New Parti Québécois leader to take home $120K annual salary

The Parti Québécois (PQ) will pay its new leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon an annual salary of $ 120,000.

Party president Dieudonné Ella Oyono made the announcement on Twitter on Friday evening.

“The national executive council has just adopted a resolution to pay a salary of $ 120,000 per year to the new leader,” he wrote, adding that the party’s finances allowed it.

The Canadian Press was able to confirm with the PQ that the salary was intended to provide temporary compensation to St-Pierre Plamondon pending his election to the National Assembly.

The same treatment was granted in the past to Jacques Parizeau, in 1988, when he succeeded Pierre-Marc Johnson, as well as to André Boisclair in 2005, when he took over from Bernard Landry.

Like St-Pierre Plamondon, the two men were not elected when they became chief.

St-Pierre Plamondon became the 10th leader of the PQ on October 9, after a race in which he beat MP Sylvain Gaudreau in the third round of the members’ ballot.

2:04 New PQ leader’s first visit to National Assembly since victory

Although he cannot sit in the Blue Room, St-Pierre Plamondon said he intends on being present at the National Assembly to get involved in the strategic choices of PQ caucus.

St-Pierre Plamondon did not commit to running for a possible by-election. He says he wants to take the time to focus on fieldwork with voters.

— With files from The Canadian Press’ Ugo Giguère and Global News’ Annabelle Olivier