Nadeau-Dubois jumps into politics
Former student protest leader takes swipes at Quebec Liberals, PQ
He says his main political adversaries are the Quebec Liberals, but as he announced Thursday he would seek the nomination to be Québec solidaire’s candidate in the Montreal provincial riding of Gouin, former student protest spokesperson and social activist Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois made it clear he has major differences with the Parti Québécois and those who lead it.
And the 26-year-old who became a household name in Quebec during the student protests in the “Maple Spring” of 2012 also said he would have welcomed the presence of a PQ candidate in the yet to be scheduled byelection to replace QS incumbent Françoise David, if only to debate the “important differences” that divide the two sovereignist parties.
“I would say I have strong differences with ... the leaders of the Parti Québécois,” Nadeau-Dubois told reporters at a news conference in Old Montreal. “But the main adversary in Quebec today is the party that is destroying our education system, destroying our environment, that is planning a huge pipeline that will go through Quebec.
“Let me be clear: my main political adversary ... is the Quebec Liberal Party.”
However as he announced his bid to become a QS candidate, Nadeau-Dubois accused both the Liberals and the PQ of having “betrayed” Quebecers over the past 30 years. And while negotiations are going on between the PQ and QS over a possible political alliance in time for the next general election in 2019, Nadeau-Dubois called for a political alliance with Option nationale, “the only political party that truly shares in our social project — progressive, sovereignist and inclusive.”
And while PQ leader Jean-François Lisée has announced his party will not field a candidate in Gouin, essentially improving the odds for any QS candidate in the riding, that didn’t stop Nadeau-Dubois from criticizing the PQ leader and suggesting any alliance between the parties would be tough to build.
“I have trouble following Jean-François Lisée and I don’t think I’m alone,” he said. “It’s nice to be politically agile ... but what’s been happening to the PQ over the past few years has really made things unclear.
“The PQ and QS don’t share the same fundamental values . ... There’s also the incoherence and inconsistency of the PQ that makes any dialogue difficult.
“If we look at the (PQ) ... the only concern is to get power as quickly as possible no matter the consequences or conditions. Their position has changed on hydrocarbons, on balancing the budget, on independence, on identity issues.”
Nadeau-Dubois said one of his priorities would be to involve Quebec youth in QS (a demographic the PQ is also trying to reach out to) and follow the lead of former U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Saunders, whose campaigning attracted young supporters fed up with old style politics.
Québec solidaire will decide on March 26 who will run in the byelection.