The Exploratory Committee on Political Options and the core principles so necessary in Quebec politics

 

The current news emanating out of the recently established Exploratory Committee on Political Options is a breath of fresh air.  The core principles espoused by the committee members are very much needed in the obsessively nationalistic atmosphere predominant on the provincial political scene since the election of the Coalition Avenir Québec Government of Premier François Legault: witness Law 21, Law 40, and more recently, Bill 96:
The Exploratory Committee on Political Options states that it is a group of citizens who stand for decency, fairness, and respect for rights. In particular, they stand for:
- minority rights;
- linguistic rights;
- Indigenous rights;
- religious freedom;
- bilingualism;
- national unity; and
- unifying Quebecers in common purpose.
The Exploratory Committee on Political Options states that it has been founded by “serious, established, responsible citizens who have been abandoned by the mainstream political parties who believe Quebecers deserve a better option.”
They are exploring the prospect of a new political party to speak on behalf of people orphaned by the political process: English-speakers, Allophones, French-speakers, and Indigenous peoples.
The Exploratory Committee on Political Options is looking to our communities and all of Quebec society for support and input as to our next steps.
The prospect of the establishment of a new political party with candidates running in the Quebec provincial general election scheduled for Monday, October 3rd, 2022, has recently emerged as the result of the discussions within this study group composed of pragmatic and principled members of the community who have agreed on the above core principles and framework.
Please recall that the Coalition Avenir Québec candidates in the October 1st, 2018, provincial general election received only 37.44 % of the votes cast by those who turned out at the polling stations, and that the overall voter turnout rate was only 66.45 %. My calculator indicates to me that this CAQ government with 24.88% of the ballots cast by those eligible to vote still managed to capture 59.2 % of the 125 seats in the National Assembly of Québec, thereby succeeding in electing a CAQ caucus of 74 seats. 
It is time for this tyranny of the majority (of seats) by the CAQ to end.  The Official Opposition, the Second Opposition Group, and the Third Opposition Group have been incapable of co-operating in an effective manner to counteract the CAQ’s overuse of le bâillon: the legislative measure of closure to limit and end debate at the whim of the government front benches.  This has been combined with the repeated use of the Notwithstanding Clause to paralyze the use of the charter protections offered by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
You have always been able to find out more about the National Assembly of Québec, the political parties therein, and their elected members through the National Assembly website.
Now, however, if the above principles of this new Exploratory Committee on Political Options appeal to you, or you would like to encourage its establishment of a provincial political party, you can visit their website here: http://exploratorycommittee.ca/ and email them at comiteexploratoirequebec@gmail.com