Saguenay Declaration | Québec solidaire lays the foundations of its simplified “new program”

(Quebec) With a “complex and sometimes difficult to understand” political offer, Québec solidaire (QS) is preparing to prune and soften its program. Gathered in a national council from May 24 to 26 at the Jonquière CEGEP, its members will debate the “Saguenay Declaration,” which the party presents as the “base” from which it will refresh its ideas and set aside commitments that have been made. accumulated over the years.

At the end of a week of crisis for parliamentary leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, whose leadership was undermined by the shock resignation of his female co-spokesperson Émilise Lessard-Therrien, The Press got its hands on the book of proposals which was submitted to members last month in order to begin the renewal of the program and lay the foundations of the process leading to the adoption of the next electoral platform.

The Saguenay declaration – which those in solidarity will be able to amend in the national council – is the result of the regional tour that the party held after its 2022 electoral defeat.

The objective of this text is to “turn mainly towards new elements for (the) party and not to reiterate commitments made in the past”.

If adopted, it will serve as a compass for the next steps leading to the 2026 election.

In terms of identity, a theme largely occupied by the Parti Québécois, currently first in voting intentions, the Saguenay declaration proposes to reiterate QS’s attachment to interculturalism, with French as a common language. The text also recalls that a united government would affirm the primacy of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, which the Legault government is muting to legally protect the Law on State Secularism. The party would also reject “conservative nationalism” which is based on “resentment and fear”.

Cleaning up commitments

In several other areas, in terms of natural resources, housing or agriculture, for example, the Saguenay declaration goes to the essential and prunes more than ever what Québec solidaire currently writes in great detail in its political program.

In health, for example, the text proposes that a united government “(decentralize) decision-making power to the regions”. How ? You will have to read the electoral platform – which will also be reduced to its simplest expression – to find out.

For forest management, while the QS program “recommends placing the large forest industry under public control”, or even “complete nationalization”, the Saguenay declaration takes a turn and recognizes “the central role of the forest industry in the economic development of several regions of Quebec.

For the future, the proposed text says instead that we must adopt “a strategy for adapting forests to climate change, in collaboration with affected communities and industry”.

In the midst of an agricultural crisis, the text proposes that a united government confer responsibility for agriculture “to the Prime Minister of Quebec” and that the party “renounce reforming agricultural unionism”, while recognizing the role of the Union of agricultural producers (UPA).

After the adoption of the Saguenay declaration, QS will conduct consultations from January to April for the “drafting of the new program” which should be adopted at a special congress in October 2025. Consultations will then be organized to draft an electoral platform in time for spring 2026, a few months before the election. This document will be “short and coherent”, we anticipate, containing “5 to 6 electoral issues at most”, compared to the 20 issues of the last platform.

Sol Zanetti breaks the silence

Reacting for the first time since the resignation of her friend Émilise Lessard-Therrien from the position of co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Jean-Lesage’s deputy in Quebec, Sol Zanetti, affirms that “the crisis which follows the departure of Émilise forces us to find solutions to ensure equality between our female and male spokespersons.” Earlier this week, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois pleaded for his party to take a “pragmatic” turn to embody a government in waiting, then to review, as part of the reform of its statutes next fall, the roles and responsibilities of spokespersons.

“Since day 1, I want us to be a government party, but not a party or a government like the others. Everyone I know at QS wants us to form the government. For me, we must above all discuss in depth how to get there,” says Mr. Zanetti.

According to him, QS must provide its parliamentary wing with “democratic statutes” and create its own framework rather than that imposed by Parliament.

“I think we must not let the framework level us. We must take the liberty of going beyond it. (…) Manon changed the narrow framework of Quebec politics by taking the risk of being herself. It was during her campaign as aspiring prime minister that we experienced the most phenomenal growth,” he notes.

At the time, the trained philosopher continued, QS was not trying to meet the demands of the full-time “machine.” “We took the risk of taking what mobilized us as true, knowing that some would find it ridiculous, but hoping that others would salute our courage, our authenticity and our sincerity,” summarizes Mr. Zanetti. According to him, this way of doing politics has a future for the left in Quebec.