The PCQ: Trojan horse or shooting star?


The Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) continues to rise. According to the latest Léger/Le Journal poll, since December, his support has jumped from 5% to 14%.

Closely followed by QS and the PQ, the party of Éric Duhaime, nestled resolutely on the right and with uninhibited populism, is even ahead of the PLQ among Francophones. In the region of Quebec, often more conservative, its rise is marked. The PCQ won a quarter of the voting intentions there. In short, he settles comfortably in the political landscape.

Steadfast in first place, with 48% support among Francophones, François Legault’s CAQ has been losing a few feathers since the fall. Nothing, however, to threaten his re-election. Only small cloud on the horizon, the thrust of the PCQ nibbles especially in the CAQ base.

How to explain it? The PCQ is essentially propelled by four phenomena.1. Pandemic fatigue. 2. The erratic management of the fifth wave by the Legault government, whose unexplained return of the curfew at the end of the year was the worst moment.

3. Fueled by Trumpism, the strong comeback in the West of an unbridled populism camped to the right of the right. 4. The objective weakness of the other opposition parties.

But beware. At 14% support across Quebec, the PCQ’s supporters are still floundering in the same weak waters as them.

Only training in progress

However, one major element sets it apart: the PCQ is the only training in progress. For now. For François Legault, seeing Éric Duhaime eat away at his own right is certainly annoying.

On the other hand, seeing him further divide an already fragmented opposition should not displease him too much. Hence the real question. The PCQ: shooting star or Trojan horse? Flash in the pan or a new player to take seriously? Only time will tell.

Any comparison being lame, even the limited rise of the PCQ is somewhat reminiscent of that of the defunct ADQ – the precursor party of the CAQ within which it dissolved in 2012.

Like the PCQ, the ADQ advocated a reduction in the role of the state and a greater role for the private sector, including in health.

Born in the wake of the failure of the Meech Lake Accord, it was in 2007-2008 that the ADQ saw itself galvanized even more by another crisis – that of reasonable accommodation. She would become the ace in the ADQ game. Its success, however, was short-lived.

political management

The PCQ is taking advantage of too long a health crisis. However, there is a significant difference between the two formations. Mario Dumont was a leader respected even by his adversaries – a valuable attribute that Éric Duhaime clearly lacks. He nevertheless tries, with some success, to exploit the discontent of a minority of Quebecers against the health measures and the management of the fifth wave by the CAQ. Hence the frontal attacks of Éric Duhaime against François Legault who, with 14% of voters, hit the mark.

This explains, at least in part, the Prime Minister’s haste to put an end to most health measures, including the vaccine passport, which is highly unpopular among Duhaime sympathizers.

However, for the vaccinated majority, this could pose a new risk in closed public places, where it was nevertheless demanded with good reason.

The moral of this story ? 2022 being an election year, if the support of the PCQ were to consolidate, Quebecers should expect an increasingly political management of the pandemic.

Because despite the magical thinking that the end of the pandemic is imminent, the fact is that it is still far from over…




Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com

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