QUEBEC \u2014 Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has reached out to the English-speaking community, urging it to trust his party to form a \u201ccompetent and honest\u201d government after eight years of Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec bungling.<\/p>\n
Arguing that when it comes to the need for good government in Quebec anglophones and francophones are \u201call in the same boat,\u201d St-Pierre Plamondon has urged the community to think twice about who they vote for Oct. 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuebecers were promised a wind of change by the CAQ,\u201d St-Pierre Plamondon said in an open letter to Quebec anglophones published Tuesday in the National Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, what we have witnessed is not even the status quo \u2014 it is decline. We cannot blame citizens for losing faith in the state when, year after year, they pay more and receive less.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conceding \u201cwe may not always agree on Quebec\u2019s constitutional future,\u201d St-Pierre Plamondon invites anglophones to nevertheless hear him out. <\/p>\n
Click here to read Paul St-Pierre Plamondon\u2019s full letter<\/a><\/p>\n He does not forsake his plan to hold another independence referendum<\/a> during a first mandate should the PQ win the October election.<\/p>\n In February, St-Pierre Plamondon suggested a referendum would be later than sooner in a PQ mandate<\/a> because of the economic climate and the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n What is urgent today, he argues, is turfing out the CAQ. The PQ, which has been leading in the polls for two years, can do just that, he says.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past months, many anglo Quebecers have told me they would vote for the PQ for the first time in their lives simply because they agree with our stances on a vast majority of issues,\u201d St-Pierre Plamondon wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cUnderneath that pledge is also the fact the anglos don\u2019t fear the PQ any more since anglos and francos share the same realities and concerns. Public discourse has too often encouraged the mistaken belief that the concerns of French-speaking and English-speaking Quebecers are fundamentally at odds.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing could be further from the truth. We are all in the same boat. We live under the same institutions. We pay the same taxes. We deserve the same high-quality public services and individual financial well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n He rips into the CAQ\u2019s record in office, noting \u201cwe\u2019ve gone through one of the worst regressions in quality of life in Quebec\u2019s recent history.\u201d<\/p>\n St-Pierre Plamondon also points to the costs of living, with home ownership becoming an increasingly distant dream for many young Quebecers. At the same time, education and health care systems are not able to provide the quality of services citizens deserve, he says.<\/p>\n The government, he says, has neglected the maintenance of roads, schools and hospitals, and \u201cnormalized\u201d the waste of public funds through such scandals as SAAQclic<\/a> and Northvolt.<\/p>\n Part of the decline in Quebec is connected to the ideological beliefs of the federal government, which he says brought \u201cuncontrolled and unlimited\u201d immigration to the province.<\/p>\n \u201cTogether we have a shared responsibility to reject decline,\u201d St-Pierre Plamondon says. \u201cWe would be wrong to accept a Quebec that has grown accustomed to doubting itself, to distrusting its institutions or to settling for less.\u201d<\/p>\n St-Pierre Plamondon repeats a pledge he has made many times since assuming the leadership of the PQ<\/a> in October 2020: protecting the rights of the English-speaking minority.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we clearly stated in our blue book (on independence)<\/a>, the country of Quebec that we are building is one where the rights of the historic English-speaking minority will be fully protected. Its institutions will continue to exist and be called upon to play their central role.<\/p>\n \u201cThe PQ will even ensure that the rights currently enjoyed by the English-speaking community are entrenched in the constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Quebec\u2019s political status, St-Pierre Plamondon says that matter will be decided later.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will decide that question democratically,\u201d he writes. \u201cBut that conversation should not put aside the numerous urgent issues before us in this upcoming election.<\/p>\n \u201cWho can Quebecers trust to get our nation back on track? Who can embody the change in the way we govern that we so desperately need?<\/p>\n \u201cThe real ballot question this coming October is who can form a good government for Quebec: a competent government, an honest government. It is in that spirit that I extend my hand to you. Let us take an honest look at what we have in common.\u201d<\/p>\n He then quotes former PQ leader Lucien Bouchard who once said: \u201cIt\u2019s good to know there is one unalterable truth we can cling onto: the knowledge that in the end we are all Quebecers.<\/p>\n \u201cNous sommes tous Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois. We all love Quebec \u2014 because Quebec is our home.\u201d<\/p>\n It is not the first time the PQ reaches out to anglophones in its 58-year history. St-Pierre Plamondon has kept up<\/a> the effort.<\/p>\n Educated at McGill and Oxford universities and perfectly bilingual, St-Pierre Plamondon has spoken many times of minority rights, appearing in 2025 on an installment of The Corner Booth<\/a>.<\/p>\n