Éric duhaime's message to english community: 'don’t vote with the old paradigm'
in a meeting with the montreal gazette's editorial board, the leader of the conservative party of quebec said those who vote liberal risk being left behind after oct. 3.
4 minute read
we apologize, but this video has failed to load.
try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
éric duhaime says it’s time to do away with the nationalism of the past and build a new, united quebec. “we’re not in the ’70s. the battles of the past need to stay in the past. i believe anglophones and allophones need to be our allies,” the conservative party of quebec leader said tuesday in a meeting with the montreal gazette’s editorial board. “the community has tremendously changed and our political class did not notice.”
duhaime said his is the only party that can unify quebecers from different language groups and represent the majority and minorities alike. he is inviting voters to reject divisive politics, and said the popularity of the conservatives, now polling second in voter intentions, is a sign that there is a shifting paradigm at play.
he said this is the first quebec election in his lifetime in which the sovereignty debate isn’t a main issue. as such, the parti québécois and the quebec liberal party are seeing historic low support among francophone voters.
“it’s a huge shift,” duhaime said. “that’s why i want to send a message to the english community: be part of that shift. don’t vote with the old paradigm. don’t vote with a fringe party, because that’s where the liberals might end up in a few weeks.”
advertisement
duhaime was in montreal tuesday to meet representatives of minority groups, in hopes of appealing to traditional liberal voters. he said it’s time for the english-speaking community to abandon the liberals, whom he said no longer represent their best interests as they only plan to repeal certain parts of bill 96, the law to bolster the french language.
“they have been hostages of the liberals, and the liberals took them for granted and betrayed them,” he said.
while he says the french language needs to be protected, duhaime doesn’t want to reduce the strength of the english community, saying quebec anglophones are predominantly bilingual and harbour no malice against efforts to protect french.
“being bilingual shouldn’t be the source of a fight — it should be a source of pride,” he said. “the fact montreal has the highest rate of bilingualism in north america should be a source of pride, and not a problem.”
duhaime has said he will repeal bill 96 and on tuesday outlined the steps he would take to replace the law, with a focus on better education for immigrants. he said he believes bill 96 violates the fundamental rights of the english community.
duhaime has often said that his parents, who were unilingual french speakers, sacrificed so that they could enrol him in an english private school.
advertisement
however, he drew the line at changing bill 101, which states that parents who were not educated in english in canada must enrol their children in french school.
“that’s a can of worms and i don’t want to go there,” he said.
while he believes in individual freedom when it comes to language, duhaime’s government would keep bill 21, the state secularism law that prohibits certain public-sector employees from wearing religious symbols.
he said people have the right to be served by a state that is neutral.
duhaime didn’t close the door to taking bill 21 a step further, saying his party allows free votes, so if enough mnas supported a motion to further ban religion in the state, he would let democracy take its course.
“that would be the way to solve it,” he said. “if there is a democratic will, we should let it present itself.”
duhaime said his party represents the future, and pointed to recent polls that show it with equal support among francophones and anglophones, at around 19 per cent. those polls also show his party polling first among 18- to 50-year-olds, while the coalition avenir québec is strong with those 50 and up.
“françois legault could be elected without the youth,” duhaime said. “there’s a huge generational gap. i’m really concerned about that.
advertisement
“ultimately, we have to ask our parents and grandparents to take a closer look and make a pitch for them to vote for their future, vote for their kids and grandkids.”
the conservative leader lashed out against legault, accusing him of driving division between quebecers.
“we have a divisive premier,” he said. “he divided us during the crisis between essential and non-essential workers, then he divided francophone and anglophones with bill 96. then he talked about immigrants to divide us, even with his recent comments about violence. he’s also trying to split us between generations.
“he’s not the premier of all quebecers. he’s the leader of a party, but not a great leader of the nation. the guy is always trying to find wedge issues. when we talk about what françois legault is trying to achieve, it’s very difficult (to guess). it seems to depend on the poll of the day.”
share story
