PQ resists idea of setting quotas for minorities
Proposals to ‘reserve’ seats voted down though members seek increased diversity
The Parti Québécois Sunday continued to struggle with its relationship with minority communities despite the urgings of a former leadership candidate, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, to dare to go where it has not gone before.
While a day devoted to debating ideas to modernize the party to reflect modern Quebec started well with the PQ leader saying he wants 16 per cent of future PQ candidates to come from minority communities, it ended on a disappointing note when it came to the PQ’s internal structures.
Plamondon’s plan to “reserve” a seat for a minority community member on each riding association executive ran smack into questions from nervous riding executive members who wondered how such a plan could be applied.
And at the same time as proclaiming they want more minority presence in a party which has been largely white and francophone for years, the members heeded the words of a black Montreal woman, Marie-Imalta Pierre-Lys, who said she has never felt any discrimination in the party and did not feel need for special treatment.
“If I run (for a party executive position, I don’t want to win just because I am black,” she told about 400 members of the party gathered here to debate Plamandon’s 20-point package of ideas to modernize the PQ.
“It’s not in putting quotas that we will attract (minorities).”
Another delegate, Marysa Nadeau from Hull, went to the microphone to question the vague use of the term diversity in the package, arguing it could mean any kind of minority. She urged the members to be clear and come and say the job would be reserved for an ethno-cultural candidate.
In the end, despite an attempt to water down the plan to just say “encourage,” diversity on party structures, the idea failed in a narrow vote.
And Plamondon’s idea of assigning one third of the seats on party committees to members who are under 40 ended up also pared back to say “encourage” instead of oblige.
Broadsided at the last minute despite months of consulting, Plamondon — who lost to Jean-François Lisée in the leadership race — said later he was disappointed. Given the chaotic nature of the plenary, Plamondon said he is not entirely sure the motion failed.
He said despite Pierre-Lys’s personal success in the party, his view has not changed.
“Do I think we still need to reserve places? The answer is Yes,” Plamondon said. “This did not pass, but the PQ’s intention remains. We want more diversity. What we see is the question of quota is always touchy.”
Plamondon said there is still time to push the case in other party structures before the PQ’s full policy convention in September.
He noted 95 per cent of his other ideas did get approved. For example, the PQ voted in favour of a greater presence of minority communities in crown corporations and on the boards of para-public agencies such as the STM.
Plamondon said given the evolution of the party in the months Lisée started focusing on the membership might explain why some members may think the measures he proposed — on youth in particular — are not necessary.
Lisée announced Sunday that one third of the 12,500 new members who joined the PQ in the last year that he has been leader are under 40. Turning to theatrics in a mid-day speech, Lisée asked asking members under 40 to stand. Half of the room rose to their feet.
The council comes as the party tries to get itself back on track after getting burned by Québec solidaire in an attempt to create an electoral pact. Compared to the other parties, membership is in fact in good shape and stands at 90,000.
“We are a party in profound renewal,” Lisée said, arriving for the meeting with a bounce in his step despite polls showing the party trailing in third place.
He announced the objective in the next election is that 16 per cent of candidates come from cultural communities. The same target figure would apply for the public service and on the boards of crown corporations.
The 16 per cent figure comes from the fact 16 per cent of Quebec’s population is a visible minority.
“It’s a desire, an objective,” Lisée said. “I am not saying it’s a quota.”
Asked if the minority candidates would be offered ridings the PQ actually has a chance of winning, Lisée responded: “We’re working on it, we want a diversity of candidates.”
In his afternoon speech to the members, Lisée started the big shift, announcing he wants the PQ to be greener, more tolerant and everything but old and dusty.
He tried to to put some pizzazz into PQ politics too, borrowing a line from U.S. president Barack Obama to tell his troops change will not come if they just wait for some other person to do it or some other time.
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” Lisée said. “I would add: we are the light at the end of the tunnel of the Liberal years.”
The green shift is a new cause for the party, too, as it struggles to give itself a populist vision other than sovereignty in time for the 2018 election.
He said if elected, a PQ government will table a “green budget,” designed to get Quebec moving on a whole series of new economic fronts and eventually off oil.
When it comes to oil, he said the PQ will ask voters for a mandate to use all “political, legislative and regulatory measures it has at its disposal” to block the Energy East pipeline.
The PQ also moved on other fronts to renew itself. It has launched a new website along with a new advertising campaign and a series of booklets called “Fifty plus one” featuring answers about independence.