“People are up in arms,” a Quebec Liberal Party source said. “There was no consensus on this.”
Saying he is respecting the rules of caucus solidarity as the MNA for the riding of Marguerite-Bourgeoys, Beauchemin Friday nevertheless took to social media and answered questions from reporters on the party’s stunning political flipflop on a long-standing policy and decision to side with the Parti Québécois on the issue.
Beauchemin said in his opinion the new policy, adopted on the fly this week by the Liberal caucus, runs contrary to Liberal values. At the very least, Liberal MNAs should have been allowed a free vote on the issue which has created a malaise in the party.
“As a candidate that’s what I would like to have done,” Beauchemin told reporters Friday when asked if the decision needs to be re-visited. “The militants have a voice and they should be allowed to express it.
“From my perspective, such a deep and profound change into the Liberal culture for the last 60 years should had consultation with the membership. We need to listen to the membership.
“If we actually want Quebecers to listen to us a party, we first have to listen to our own members.”
Nobody was allowed to abstain, one Liberal party source told The Gazette.
“People are up in arms,” the source said. “This is not going to go away. There was no consensus on this.”
Following Premier François Legault’s lead, the CAQ MNAs defeated the motion in an 83 to 19 vote but inside the ranks of the Liberal Party the grumbling started almost immediately with some MNAs saying confidentially that the policy cannot stand.
The PQ motion called on the CAQ government to tighten up Quebec’s secularism rules.