On Monday 19 February, the Ghislain Dufour Business Forum welcomed Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, Member of Parliament for Camille-Laurin, Leader of the third opposition group, and Leader of the Parti québécois (PQ).
Mr St-Pierre Plamondon who is used to frequent press briefings in front of journalists and cameras really enjoyed his visit to the Forum, which was a first for him in front of an audience of business leaders. They were particularly grateful for the honesty with which the leader of the Parti québécois expressed his convictions, straightforwardly and without evading the sometimes delicate issues raised by his desire to make Quebec a country.
While the Parti québécois is ahead in the polls, Mr St-Pierre Plamondon remains committed to holding a referendum on independence during his first term in office, even though support for the sovereignist option does not currently allow him to contemplate victory. The PQ leader believes that the citizens of a sovereign Quebec would benefit from the elimination of a host of overlaps between the federal and provincial administrations. For example, he pointed out that between 2015 and 2023, the size of the federal administration has increased by 40% without providing better services for citizens. In his view, we need to prioritise services rather than public service structures.
Mr St-Pierre Plamondon acknowledges that the transition to a sovereign state could lead to a period of instability. However, he believes that independence would stimulate the economy, pointing out that last October all parties in the House supported a motion stating that an independent Quebec is economically viable.
From left: André Bouthillier, Executive Vice-President of NATIONAL Public Relations in Montreal; Mirabel Paquette, Senior Vice-President, Corporate Communications at NATIONAL and Coordinator of the Ghislain Dufour Business Forum; our guest, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon; and Julien Provencher-Proulx, Senior Consultant, Organizations and Stakeholders at NATIONAL.
About Forum Ghislain Dufour du monde des affairesR
The Ghislain Dufour Business Forum allows business people to meet and engage in dialogue with Quebec and Canadian political and business figures, political advisors or high-level public administrators on an apolitical and non-partisan basis. For more information, visit the event page.
