Following up a tactic he began in the final debate of the electoral campaign, Parti Quebecois leader Jean-Francois Lisée is putting Quebec Solidaire under the microscope.
He said Friday that Quebec Solidaire has not been scrutinized very intently during the electoral campaign, while the leaders of the Liberal party, the Coalition Avenir Quebec, and the PQ have had journalists follow them every day they were campaigning.
Meanwhile just after Labour Day Quebec Solidaire issued a call to bloggers and the public to join them because no journalists were riding on the campaign bus.
Lisée said that means the public does not know basic information about Quebec Solidaire, which is why he pressed its co-spokesperson Manon Massé during Thursday's final electoral debate to state who was the leader of the party.
"One time I asked you on a topic what would your party do, and you answered, I'll check with my boss. And I realized it's true, you are the co-spokesperson but you are not the leader of Quebec Solidaire. Who is the leader of Quebec Solidaire and why is he not here at the leaders' debate?" Lisée said.
Massé answered that her party believes in sharing power among its members, which is why it has two spokespeople. Quebec Solidaire's secretary general, Gaetan Chateauneuf, is recognized by the chief electoral officer of Quebec as the party's leader, although the party has stated that Massé would serve as premier in the event that it forms the provincial government.
Lisée said the idea that Quebec Solidaire did not have a leader was false.
"They have a hierarchical structure. They have a co-ordinating committee that is led by someone who is not the spokesperson. The problem is not the structure, the problem is that it's opaque and that the person who has more power is the least known of the team," said Lisée.
"I want clarity. I want transparency. I want authenticity."
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the co-spokesperson for QS was in Montreal to discuss integrating immigrants but ended up discussing Lisée.
"Honestly, my first reaction when I heard him was like, what is happening with Jean-Francois Lisée? I mean, what did he eat for dinner last night?" said Nadeau-Dubois.
"The question was about health care. Health care is an important question for the election. But the priority for Jean-Francois Lisée was not to talk about nurses in burnout, or our elders, or how to take care of our children in our hospitals. It was not about our waiting lists in our hospitals. No, the big priority for Mr. Lisée was to attack Quebec Solidaire on its internal way of working, so I think Mr. Lisée, and I'm sure I'm not the only one to think that, has lost his sense of priorities."
" I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that we have very good numbers in Rosemont right now."
Rosemont is Lisée's riding and he is in a tight race against his Quebec Solidaire opponent Vincent Marissal.
