Orientation conference | Carney “launched the referendum campaign,” according to the PQ
(Saint-Hyacinthe) Mark Carney a « lancé la campagne référendaire », assume Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. Le leader péquiste a désigné le premier ministre canadien de « chef du camp du Non », ignorant ses adversaires de l’Assemblée nationale à huit mois des élections.
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Le chef du Parti québécois a consacré l’entièreté d’un discours de 30 minutes à répliquer à celui de Mark Carney sur les plaines d’Abraham, jeudi à Québec. Ce faisant, il admet avoir « d’une certaine manière » lancé à son tour sa campagne référendaire.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon n’a pas abordé les enjeux de gouvernance comme la santé ou l’éducation en clôture du Congrès d’orientation de sa formation politique, évènement où les militants débattent du « Projet national ». Ce document doit servir à alimenter la plateforme électorale du parti en prévision des élections générales de 2026. Or, l’adversaire du Parti québécois dimanche était Mark Carney.
« Ce début de la campagne du camp du Non a le mérite de clarifier la suite des choses : un nouveau cycle politique est bel et bien commencé, un nouveau chapitre de notre histoire s’ouvre devant nous », a fait valoir le chef péquiste devant un parterre de militants galvanisés.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE
Le chef péquiste, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, durant son discours
« [Nous sommes] here, in the clear and shared understanding that if nothing changes, our language, our culture and our unique and specific way of seeing the world in Quebec risk a long and painful decline which leads straight to erasure,” he added in front of jubilant activists. Some 1,400 delegates and observers converged on Saint-Hyacinthe this weekend.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon gave a long historical account to dismantle Mark Carney’s words “point by point”. On Friday, he accused the Prime Minister of being a “colonialist” who is part of “a long tradition of colonialism since Lord Durham”1.
During his speech, he repeatedly cited Nelson Mandela and Gandhi. The latter particularly on the subject of slavery. “He said that there is nothing worse for a people, not to be slaves, but to be slaves while having a little impression of being free, that it is the worst form of slavery,” continued the PQ leader.
Let’s return to Quebec in light of Gandhi’s words, Quebec owes nothing to British supervision. What we have achieved has nothing to do with any supposed benevolence from Canada. On the contrary, it is a miracle that we have managed to persist and build so much in such a context.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Québécois
A “duty”
The PQ leader judges that he had “a duty” to respond to Mark Carney. He denies putting aside the priorities of Quebecers, such as access to housing or having a family doctor, and holding a referendum campaign even before the 2026 election. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon promises a referendum on sovereignty in a first mandate, if he takes power in October.
“One of the classics of our federal heritage is to tell us that all these questions are not worth it, that they are not “real business” to quote Philippe Couillard […]. I cannot turn a blind eye to a Prime Minister of Canada who arrives on the Plains of Abraham to explain to us that we have understood nothing of our history, that is not presuming the result of the general elections,” he pleads.
During his speech at the Citadel of Quebec, Mr. Carney made the following remarks: “The Plains of Abraham symbolize a battlefield, and also the place where Canada began to make the historic choice of favoring adaptation rather than assimilation, partnership rather than domination, collaboration rather than division,” he said, appealing to Canadian unity.
“Quebec does not exist thanks to Canada”
“The Plains of Abraham are not the cradle of a united Canada. […] They are rather the clear symbol of the domination of one people over another,” said Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon during his speech, defining “the Yes camp […] in the service of truth and hope.”
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon used another quote from Mark Carney who said that “Canada does not exist thanks to the United States” to launch a new salvo.
“Mr. Carney, Quebec does not exist thanks to Canada. In fact, Quebec has survived in its difference […] despite all attempts at sabotage and assimilation,” he said, provoking thunderous applause and an ovation.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Supporters react to Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s speech during the Parti Québécois congress.
The leader of the Parti Québécois affirmed that he respected the “intelligence” of Mark Carney “who applies point by point the techniques of British colonialism”.
According to his definition, “this British colonialism is based on the idea that we are going to leave a certain number of powers to the dominated population, that we are going to buy the elites so that they collaborate with the propaganda of the regime’s lies and then, we are going to explain to this population that everything prosperous and good that happens to them is thanks to the British regime.”
1. Read the article “The PQ accuses Mark Carney of being a “colonialist””
