QUEBEC CITY -- Quebec Solidaire (QS) says that it is capable of transforming its "beautiful values" into concrete proposals to improve the lives of people on a daily basis.
"We're not bragging," said QS spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois at a news conference on Saturday, just before the start of the party's 15th convention.
"We can be an ambitious party, for example in the fight against climate change, and be credible and rigorous in our proposals. It is this balance that we want to find this weekend."
Nadeau-Dubois said QS can make an effort to be even closer to people's concerns, to have even more concrete, detailed and pragmatic proposals?
"Yes, we can make that effort and we will do so in the coming year," he added.
Nadeau-Dubois is pleased that, unlike other parties, QS is not in an "identity crisis."
"We know where we are going, we know what our project for Quebec is," he said adding that he feels a certain moment for his party.
He recognizes however that "nothing is won."
CAQ Premier François Legault has "largely benefited from the pandemic," according to Nadeau-Dubois.
QS is aiming for victory in the Marie-Victorin by-election, he said, "but far be it for me to boast and say that it will be easy, on the contrary, it will be a hot battle."
Quebec Solidaire (QS) members are being asked to write the electoral platform that will be presented to Quebecers in the upcoming 2022 election campaign.
GREENEST PLATFORM IN PARTY HISTORY
About 400 members gathered in a virtual convention this weekend will vote on about 20 proposals, including how to deal with the climate crisis the party is calling "the biggest issue of our time."
QS secretary-general Nicolas Chatel-Launay called next year's election essential in "determining in the construction of our movement."
"It is during this weekend that we will lay the groundwork for the 2022 electoral campaign, the largest and most important in the history of Quebec Solidaire," he wrote.
Already, at the opening of the convention, QS announced its intention to ban "ultra-polluting" advertising, i.e. on fossil fuels and gasoline-powered sport utility vehicles (SUVs), as of 2022.
The proposal aims to address the uncontrolled growth in the number of polluting vehicles on Quebec roads, according to MNA Émilise Lessard-Therrien.
The number of light trucks (such as SUVs) has increased by 306 per cent since 2014, the party points out, noting that the transportation sector generates nearly 45 per cent of Quebec's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 20, 2021.
