Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press “[Paul St-Pierre Plamondon] is perhaps a little soupy? I don’t know, I’m asking the question. I notice that he sometimes has exaggerated, knee-jerk reactions. It happens. It’s already happened to me,” said Bernard Drainville.
Smiling, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, suggested Thursday to the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, to “get used to” explaining his positions dating back to the time when he criticized the sovereignist option.
“He might be a little soupy ? I don’t know, I’ll ask. I notice that he sometimes has exaggerated, knee-jerk reactions. It happens. It’s already happened to me,” said Mr. Drainville.
Magnanimously, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, offered caramels to the leader of the PQ. “I think it’s never good to get angry, I learned that over time. I can offer him some caramels. It’s less good for the figure, but it’s good for the mind,” he emphasized.
On X, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon took note of the criticisms of his opponents. “I’m finally exposed,” he wrote, posting a photo of himself slurping from a soup bowl filled with… milk.
After calling me “radical,” “extremist,” “conservative” and even “violent,” my opponents today called me a ” Milk soup “. I am finally unmasked.
Enjoy your food! pic.twitter.com/N4LtF0Tey9
— Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (@PaulPlamondon) April 18, 2024
On Wednesday, the leader of the PQ left the study of credits before having expired the time granted to him to question the Prime Minister, François Legault. The latter had undertaken to read past quotes from Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, dating from a time when he did not support the sovereignist option.
“My question is clear. I am simply asking for something other than quotes from 2014 [as a response],” said the PQ leader. Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon was trying to find out if Mr. Legault could join the “Yes” camp in the event of a third referendum on the independence of Quebec. He then criticized the Prime Minister for “distorting the accountability exercise” that is the study of appropriations.
“I will stop there because the exercise consists, on the Prime Minister's side, of reading random quotes, so I am sorry, but I consider that the answers are not related to my questions and do not allow me not to give the population the facts. […] That will conclude my speech,” he said.
“I know that this shocks the leader of the PQ, but he has already said that he has discomfort with nationalism, that the decline of French does not exist, that law 101 in CEGEP n Wasn't a good idea, etc., etc. So listen, what credibility does he have today ?,” continued Mr. Legault, while his opposite number left the Blue Room.
French deputies to meet
“He needs to get used to it,” Minister Drainville, himself a PQ convert to the nationalism of the Coalition Avenir Québec, advised him on Thursday. “When you go into politics, you leave traces. You have to get used to having to explain statements or your past positions, it's part of the game or the world of politics. »
The Minister of Education, who admits to having a “quite hot” character, once left the Blue Room in a hurry, exasperated by the questions from Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy. “I try as hard as possible – I don’t always succeed – but I try to remain philosophical,” he told journalists, not without escaping a laugh.
For his part, Liberal MP André Fortin said he judged that Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon had “failed in his role as controller of government action” by not using all of the twelve minutes granted to him to discuss with the Prime Minister. “There is a housing crisis, there is a crisis in agriculture, there is a labor shortage crisis, […] endless difficulties of access to health. I do not understand why the leader of the Parti Québécois does not take advantage of the very precious time allocated to him to do his job as a controller of government action,” he said.
The PQ's director of strategic planning, Louis Lyonnais, recalled that the PQ caucus only has four deputies. “We try to be as present as possible at all the credit studies,” he said. These study periods extend over two weeks and require many hours of work. If Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon left the study of credits, it is because he had to “go to a meeting with six French deputies after having completed his questions,” said Mr. Lyonnais.
PQ MP Pascal Bérubé said he shared his leader’s impressions. “I understand so much that I think it’s a waste of time when the Prime Minister doesn’t respond. It is his last resort for the Prime Minister to read past statements from Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. I humbly suggest to you that I could do the same with François Legault, so much so that I question the sincerity he had when he was in the Parti Québécois,” he declared.