Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says he’s ready to work with English speakers. TALQ wants him to prove it

English-rights group Talking. Advocating. Living in Quebec. (TALQ) says it is cautiously optimistic about the province’s new Parti Québécois (PQ) government, adding that it is looking forward to working with premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon on issues concerning the community.

“I think people are happy that it’s a minority government, which means that all parties will have to pay attention to what Quebecers want,” said Sylvia Martin-Laforge, TALQ director general. “For the time being, it’s the right result.”

She noted that all Quebecers have “more leverage” with a minority government.

“Most English-speaking Quebecers would tell you that we’ve had doom for the past eight years, and anything might be an improvement,” Martin-Laforge said. “We’ll have to see. We’re optimistic, some of us more than others.”

Some of the issues she said the group wants to discuss with the incoming premier are English rights when it comes to education.

“The continuum of education in the English community is very, very important,” she said. “Anything that a government tries to do to strangle our education system…we will fight. We will fight.”