PQ calling on other parties to support Conservatives, restore democratic balance

The Parti Québécois (PQ) has agreed to the three demands made by Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) leader Éric Duhaime, who is seeking access to the national assembly for his party.

In the last general election, the Conservative Party won the support of 530,786 voters and 12.91 per cent of all valid ballots, according to Elections Quebec, but did not get any of its candidates elected.

Québec solidaire (QS) received 15.43 per cent of the vote and had 11 candidates elected. The PQ, which has three MNAs, received 14.61 per cent of the vote, while the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ), with 14.37 per cent of the vote, elected 21 of its candidates.

Since the Conservatives have no MNAs, Duhaime wrote a letter asking that his party be allowed to hold news conferences at the national assembly, have access to an office, and have access to in-camera sessions.

In a news release supporting the Conservative demands, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon wrote that if a party gets 13 per cent of the vote, it deserves to have at least one forum to be heard in the national assembly. He added that the Conservative Party's demands cost nothing in public funds.

St-Pierre Plamondon feels that the current voting system has caused an unprecedented distortion in the composition of the national assembly, and everything must be done to restore some democratic balance.

He criticized the fact that some political parties have recently shown little appetite for a real democratic rebalancing. The PLQ, the CAQ and QS have only sought to reform the method of allocating resources because it benefits them, according to him.

He is calling on the other leaders, Premier François Legault of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois of QS and Marc Tanguay of the PLQ, to support the Conservative Party's demands.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 28, 2022.