Photo: Karoline Boucher The Canadian Press Paul St-Pierre Plamondon wants us to stop using the expression “Françoise David law” for Bill 198.
Isabelle Porter in Quebec
6:47 p.m.
- Quebec
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, is annoyed by the term “Françoise David law” and criticizes Québec solidaire for wallowing in “media moments”.
For two days, the PQ leader has insisted that we stop using the expression “Françoise David law” and that we name by its number, 198, the bill aimed at broadening that filed in 2016 by the former MP.
“The law is not called the Françoise David law,” he said on Tuesday. Is there a law Véronique Hivon regarding end of life ? Is there a law Pauline Marois ? Should we call the law regarding housing, the project of law 31, the Duranceau law ? »
“In terms of fairness between the parties and rigor, I do not think that we should, as parties, as journalists, rename the laws based on the presumed paternity or maternity of a law, especially since Québec solidaire was not in power. »
Bill 198 aims to expand the bill tabled in 2016 by former MP Françoise David to prevent housing owners from evicting low-income tenants aged 70 and over residing in their apartment for ten years or more.
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The Parti Québécois gave its support to the bill, but, Thursday morning, the PQ leader argued that Québec solidaire was poorly defending the tenants' issue in Parliament by relying on “media moments”.
Negotiated “softer”
He said that, during the debates on the gag order before Christmas, he had “really tried” to influence the position of the Coalition Avenir Québec on the transfer of the lease while “QS had negotiated more leniently” so that he could be allowed to table Bill 198. The PQ leader maintains that QS was content with a debate on the issue without guarantee that the government would vote for.
Bill 198 would offer protection to tenants starting at age 65 instead of 70 and would reduce the number of years of apartment occupancy required from ten to five years. The maximum income to benefit from it would also be adjusted.
In fact, the government agreed to call the bill on Thursday afternoon for debate, but indicated that it did not necessarily intend to support it. During the question period Thursday morning, the Minister responsible for Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, stressed that the subject had been “extensively discussed” during the study of Bill 31, and on Wednesday, Prime Minister François Legault refused to commit to supporting such a reform.
Québec solidaire, for its part, decided to devote the entire day of Thursday to this issue. His interventions at the Salon Bleu all focused on this, and the party held< b> a press briefing in the early afternoon alongside numerous civil society groups to press the government to adopt bill 198.
Questioned about his alleged weakness in the December negotiations, the leader of Québec solidaire, Alexandre Leduc, appeared surprised. “I don’t know of any opposition that has succeeded in forcing a government to adopt a bill,” he said, before adding that Paul St-Pierre Plamondon had “personally participated in the negotiation.”< /p>
The debate on Bill 198 was interrupted Thursday afternoon, at the end of parliamentary work, without knowing whether the government would recall it so that it could possibly be adopted. As MPs will be on parliamentary break next week, we will have to wait until April 8 to find out if it will appear on the program. “We hope that the week will make everyone think,” declared Mr. Leduc at the end of the debate.
With the collaboration of Marie-Michèle Sioui