The Bloc Québécois MP for Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot-Acton, Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, intends to remain in the same place, but change parliaments.
He announced on Friday that he will resign at the end of the federal parliamentary session in order to run for the PQ nomination in the provincial riding of Saint-Hyacinthe, thus confirming the information that had been circulating since the day before.
Savard-Tremblay, who will sit as an independent until his departure, was accompanied by the leaders of the party he is leaving and the one he intends to join, Yves-François Blanchet and Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. When questioned about past tensions between their respective parties, they even embraced to signify their good understanding, much to the delight of the activists and cameras present. “We’re in the same fight, it’s always been simple. There has been alignment on positions because, as Yves-François explained at the time, they are different playing fields. So the considerations aren’t always the same. But today, we can’t treat this alignment as something new; it’s working,” stated the Parti Québécois leader after Yves-François Blanchet promised him the Bloc Québécois’s full support for the upcoming provincial election.
Fier Wendat
Savard-Tremblay is a member of the Wendat First Nation and says he is proud of it. He believes there will be no difficulties surrounding the consultation of First Nations regarding a potential referendum on sovereignty. “The consultation mechanism will be determined by a sovereignist government that wants to commit to this path and will do so. We’ll have to see. I myself am a member of the Wendat Nation, and I am very pleased that yesterday, the Grand Chief of the Wendat Nation welcomed my candidacy.”
When asked about abandoning his voters barely a year after being elected, he said he did not want to downplay the fact, adding that “if you wait forever, there is never an ideal time. There is never a perfect time and waiting longer would have meant missing out on a historic opportunity.”
He has no hesitation in resigning at the end of the session because, he says, “there’s no way I’m spending the summer on a salary. I’m going to pay for it myself.”
The Parti Québécois leader welcomed this acquisition, since this candidacy – which still needs to be confirmed by a nomination meeting where another candidate will face her – allows him “to recruit a seasoned parliamentarian, someone with experience, but who brings, beyond that experience, above all an understanding of the issues, not only in her riding, but an understanding of the price of not making decisions on our own. And that’s what’s fascinating about the Bloc Québécois experience: being confronted with a Parliament in which we only have 20 per cent of the seats and, unfortunately, in which Quebec’s voice is often marginalized.”
Revealing federal experience
Savard-Tremblay was quick to confirm this. “My experience in Ottawa has also taught me this: despite the sincere work that can be done, Quebec’s interests are too often bargained away, secondary in the arbitration of the Canadian system,” he said.
Yves-François Blanchet also focused at length on when a by-election will have to be called in Quebec following the departures of NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice, Liberal MP Steven Guilbeault, and now Bloc Québécois MP Savard-Tremblay, as a Quebec general election approaches. “I obviously hope the by-election will be held as soon as possible. However, I would completely understand if no one wanted a by-election in Quebec at the same time as the Quebec general election, as that would only create confusion.”
“I don’t believe, at least for the by-elections that will take place in Quebec, that Mr. (Mark) Carney wants or has the decency to create such confusion,” he added. “I see them after the election to the National Assembly of Quebec, in which we will invest our energies alongside those of the Parti Québécois.”
He also said he was confident of regaining the seat in Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, “a sector where Quebecers have traditionally been very, very receptive to our message. I won’t be going into this by-election with sleepless nights of worry.”
Especially, he said, since the rapprochement between Ottawa and Alberta. “I think Mr. Carney has seriously tarnished his image recently with actions that are so contrary, particularly in terms of energy and oil, to what is in Quebec’s interests.”
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
