The Parti Québécois is back in power with 60 seats, having gained one more after a recount in Vachon on Montréal’s South Shore. But its minority government will need support from other parties to pass legislation and budgets. What should Montréalers expect?
Journalist and public historian Taylor C. Noakes joins Local 514’s Kalden Rangdröl Dhatsenpa to discuss the CAQ’s decline, the PQ’s return and what the new government could mean for Montréal, particularly its immigrant and anglophone communities.
Noakes examines the party’s focus on language and national identity, questioning what its priorities offer a city struggling with housing costs, underfunded transit and aging infrastructure. The discussion also considers the prospects for another sovereignty referendum, Alberta’s referendum and the influence of American politics on Québec’s independence movement.
Running through the conversation is a question of political power: how much say does Montréal have over its own future? As the PQ pursues greater independence for Québec, Noakes argues for greater autonomy for Montréal—and asks who might lead that fight.
“It’s unfortunate that right now we do not have political leadership to match the ambition of the people of Montreal.”
Narrowing that gap, he argues, will take nothing short of “a political rebirth.”