Why Qubec Solidaire rejected alliance with the Parti Qubcois

Years of instability within the Parti Qubcois dissuaded members of Qubec Solidaire from voting to merge the two parties, according to one of the latter party's spokespeople.

The members of Qubec Solidaire, apro-sovereignist, left-wing party, optedagainst forming an alliance with the PQ at their annual convention in Montreal Sunday.

The move was touted as a way to unite the sovereignist movement in Quebec ahead of the 2018 election.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, one of Qubec Solidaire's newly elected co-spokespeople, says"incoherence and inconsistency" within the PQ turned his party's members offthe idea.

"Those changes in position greatly eroded the confidence that could have existed between the PQ and Qubec Solidaire," he said Monday during an interview on Radio-Canada's Gravel le matin.

• Manon Mass, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois become new voices of Qubec Solidaire

But that confidence does exist between Qubec Solidaire and Option Nationale, a centre-left sovereignist party, and other citizen-led groups in the province, he said.

The vote was as much a sign of the members' confidence in their own party as it was a sign of their wariness of the PQ, according to MNA Manon Mass, Qubec Solidaire's other new spokesperson.

When asked about the developments during an official visit to Israel, Premier Philippe Couillardcalled the notion of the two parties merging "political theory."

Not only does it assume voters will allow themselves to be "manipulated by political games," he said,but the merger would be "politically unnatural."

A tweet from the PQ's official account, retweeted byleader Jean-Franois Lise, reads that the party is "proud that itheld out a hand, proposed something different and tried to join forces rather than be divisive."

How to beat the Liberals?

QubecSolidairefinished fourth in the 2014 provincial election, with about eight per cent of the popular vote compared to the Liberals' 41.5 per cent.

But Nadeau-Dubois said he doesn't believe people who have voted Liberal in the past will only ever vote Liberal. He believes they can be swayed by another political party, and believes Qubec Solidaire can do it.

Mass pointed to the provincial NDP's surprise victory in Alberta's 2015 election as a sign of hope for her party.

The best way to get rid of the Liberals, Nadeau-Dubois said, is to create a larger political movement that would replace old partisan lines and replace them with new ones.

That, he said, will separate the people who want real change from those who want to keep the current system in place.

• Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Qubec Solidaire's great hope