Aging Parti Quebecois seeks to rebuild after crushing election defeat
MONTREAL — The future of the Parti Quebecois, long the pillar of the sovereigntist movement, is shaky after it suffered an unprecedented defeat at the polls Monday.
Eric Belanger, professor of political science and director of McGill University’s Quebec Studies program, said the party’s base is aging. It is made up mainly of baby boomers and a few Generation Xers who were inspired by decades-old events, the 1990 failure of the Meech Lake Accord and the 1995 sovereignty referendum.
“But since then, it’s been all quiet on the constitutional front, so the PQ’s project lacks fuel in a way,” Belanger said. “On top of that, some of the policy positions that have been taken by the PQ in recent years — most notably the Charter of Values — really have turned off the newer generation now, so that we’re facing a party that has been unable to renew itself.”
A few years ago, he wrote in a paper that the PQ was bound to disappear because of its lack of renewal.