(Quebec) The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Éric Duhaime, gives Minister Éric Caire a taste of his own medicine: he launches a petition demanding his resignation after the Legault government backed down on its election promise of a third highway link. PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is asking for an official apology from Premier François Legault for breach of commitment.
Éric Duhaime announces the launch of the petition on Monday, in front of Éric Caire’s office in Quebec City. His strategy also allows his party to refine its database by knowing the identity of La Peltrie voters angry with their CAQ MP.
In 2011, when he was an ADQ deputy, Éric Caire tabled a bill in the National Assembly “on the dismissal of a deputy”. The objective was to allow voters in a constituency to start a petition to show the door to their MP.
If an absolute majority (50% plus one) of registered voters in the constituency sign the petition within a 60-day period, “the MP is removed […], the MP loses his seat, and we go to a by-election”, explained Éric Caire at the time.
“It’s a control measure that is simple and that would completely change the dynamic between the voter and the elected, because between two general elections, you will understand that an MP is free to do little nearly anything he wants,” he added. “What the bill wants is that the ultimate judge is the voter, not the leader of the party who controls his caucus as he wants, when he wants, to take them where he wants. . »
On Monday, Éric Duhaime announced the launch of a petition under roughly the same conditions as those provided for in Éric Caire’s bill. Its objective is therefore to collect around 30,000 signatures from La Peltrie voters in 60 days. Obviously, this petition could not lead to the removal of Mr. Caire since such a step is not legally recognized. It is essentially a means of pressure, but also a way for the PCQ to target disgruntled voters for an upcoming election.
Conservative activists will go door to door in La Peltrie to collect signatures. A website will be launched.
As of last week, a petition was launched by citizens of the constituency to demand the resignation of Éric Caire. The instigator is Jim Légaré, who supported the PCQ in the last election. Some 7,165 people have signed it so far.
During the weekend, Éric Duhaime sent a letter to 14 of the 16 Caquiste deputies from the Quebec and Chaudière-Appalaches regions – except for Mr. Caire and Geneviève Guilbault – to try to convince them to join his party.
For his part, the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, announced his intention to table a bill to allow the dismissal of a member “in the event of a major breach of trust and breach of a solemn commitment with the electors”.
Remember that Éric Caire had put his seat on the line regarding the third link. He had pledged to resign if his party backed down. He said he was ready to fight until his “last drop of blood” to complete the case.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon also asks Prime Minister François Legault to “formally address Quebeckers to offer them an official apology for an electoral promise that had no other objective than to gain and keep power: that of the third link “.
