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MONTREAL — As Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon launched his party's election campaign, he described his candidates as a"Cinderella team" that would go further than people expect.Once the voice of a generation of Quebec sovereigntists, the PQ is polling in last place among the five major parties and pollsters predict it will win one seat in the Oct. 3 election: the riding of Matane-Matapédia, on the lower shore of the St. Lawrence River.
Mahéo and other political analysts say the PQ has struggled to distinguish itself in an increasingly crowded political landscape where other issues — like health care, the environment and the economy — have eclipsed the independence debate. The party's decline is also a reflection of Quebec politics becoming increasingly"normal," she said, centred around a left-right divide rather than around the issue of Quebec sovereignty.
If elected, St-Pierre Plamondon has promised to hold a referendum on independence in his first mandate, to prevent non-anglophones from attending English-language junior colleges and to ensure all economic immigrants speak French before arriving in Quebec. He has also rejected income tax cuts — promised by the CAQ, the Liberals and the Conservatives — in order to maintain funding for public services.
"I am in the position of underdog and I'm very comfortable in that position, it's something that I've experienced before," he said. "It's absolutely the right strategy. This will antagonize a majority of Quebecers, but they're not looking to please the majority of Quebecers, they just want the sovereigntists to come back into their fold," Fournier said.
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