Solidarity will see us through
One could feel the tectonic plates shift in real-time last night as the results from the Québec elections poured in. Journalists tasked with illustrating changes on interactive maps were repeatedly awestruck as the Québec Liberal Party (PLQ) red and Parti-Québécois (PQ) navy blue disappeared, swallowed by a sea of Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) baby blue. Through it all, tiny pockets of Québec Solidaire (QS) orange emerged outside the island of Montréal, breaking one of the most enduring myths about the potency of QS’s reach beyond the proudly left-wing urban core of Québec’s biggest metropolis.
Many today are concerned about what a CAQ government will mean for the future of Québec public services and how it may fan the flames of intolerance and bigotry towards immigrants and racialized communities. These fears are justified and defenders of inclusion and social justice must prepare themselves to contest the government’s policies at every turn. However, it would be a grave mistake to equate the election results with a sharp rise in xenophobia and an appetite for fiscal conservatism.
Québec’s political landscape has been dominated and monopolized by the PLQ and the PQ for close to fifty years. Both parties having greatly strayed from their raison-d’être over the decades, it is no surprise that their fall from grace at the hands of newer parties proved merciless.
Refusons l’austérité… and the PLQ
When the PLQ won its majority in 2014 after the dissolution of a short-lived minority PQ government under Pauline Marois, Philippe Couillard wasted no time in implementing his neoliberal vision for the state. He followed a time-tested political recipe of enacting less popular decisions early on in the mandate, with the hope that his electorate’s memory would be fickle. But Couillard’s austerity agenda was met with great social resistance from the labour movement and community groups, which left a permanent and visible scar his party’s brand.
The success of the Refusons l’austérité campaign played a key part in destroying what little was left of the PLQ’s credibility. After decades of political corruption and a gross mismanagement of the 2012 student crisis, it created an opportunity for the CAQ to secure an upset as the only perceived party of “change.”
Of course, this is a ruse. The CAQ and the PLQ (and the PQ for that matter) are cut from the same cloth. In many ways, the CAQ represents the worst of both traditional parties: the social and fiscal policies of the Liberals mixed with the more blatant bigotry of the Parti Québécois. As such, Québec’s new Premier will govern just as callously as his predecessors.
And while there are reasons to compare François Legault to Ontario Premier Doug Ford and U.S. President Donald Trump, it is important to acknowledge that Québec is neither Ontario nor the United States of America, despite the systemic racism that plagues all three. The next four years will certainly be difficult and painful, but it also would have been under the Liberals. No matter what, Québec residents were going to have to ready themselves for a steady dose of awful. Thankfully, a popular resistance is already organized and ready in the form of ten Québec Solidaire Members at the National Assembly — triple what they had in 2014 — and the vast movement behind them.
Keep left to move forward
The popularity of QS’s positions and ideas are undeniable, and it was fascinating to watch the three other main political parties, including the CAQ, tack a little to the left during the campaign, despite their own natural right-leaning tendencies. The CAQ even proposed a return to a form of universal single-payer childcare, a staple socialist policy that was chronically underfunded by the PLQ before they did away with the model during their most recent mandate. This was a great departure from the CAQ’s traditional discourse, and a far cry from the fascist politics of Ford and Trump. An outsider to the political landscape may have even wondered if conservatism existed in Québec.
The CAQ’s analysts and operatives were well aware that it is difficult, if not impossible, to win in Québec in 2018 by presenting a stark, unapologetic right-wing agenda. And though Legault proved himself more than ready to resort to dog-whistle politics, he also took a major hit mid-way through the campaign as he appeared to improvise draconian anti-immigration policies while demonstrating an inability to grasp the fundamentals of Canada’s immigration system. Election coverage quickly moved on to other gaffes made by his opponents but the CAQ learned its lesson: this election is yours to lose, don’t rock the boat.
Whether the CAQ now decides to show its true colours or rather opt for a safer status-quo “do nothing” style of governing remains to be seen, but the influence of QS on its campaign has already mitigated what could have been far worse had the National Assembly be devoid of those working tirelessly to pull their political opponents to the left.
In refusing to chase power, Québec Solidaire, the little party that could, has set up the legislative and street power necessary to force politicians of different stripes to moderate their views, lest they poke a very hungry bear.
Turn and face the strange
As electors went to the polls with change on the mind, the CAQ’s victory was foretold. Not only because it held a greater number of seats than QS when the election was called, but also because it had not had to deal with the same level of mockery that pundits have dished up against Québec Solidaire since its founding. This is the party that had to open its campaign bus to bloggers and other influencers after mainstream media failed to take them seriously.
Having won more seats than the Parti Québécois, , QS now finds itself in uncharted waters: that of the second opposition. As the PLQ and PQ prepare for significant soul-searching, it will be left to QS co-spokesperson Manon Massé and her colleagues to hold the CAQ’s feet to the fire and prove to the rest of Québec that their movement is a legitimate force to be reckoned with.
Québec voters were starving for change. Once they realize that they have been served more of the same, they will turn to the only party that represents legitimate political, economic, environmental and social change: Québec Solidaire. Its movement can no longer be ignored. Their time has come.
