The Quebec liberals have something the Ontario liberals lack. It is leadership. They have leader Dominique Anglade and she is busy doing her job in the current election campaign in the province. It is almost as though she is running against the news media, the political scientists, the new conservative party, Québec Solidaire, the Parti Québécois and Legault’s CAQ. As leader, she needs to take her party away from the others and run a campaign that sets her party apart.
What I think she needs is a direct attack on Francois Legault’s striking out at the English language when he knows it is only going to hurt Quebecers. She has to say that bilingualism is better. She has to acknowledge that prosperity for Quebec is based on bilingualism. The point is that Legault is hurting the economic potential of Quebec. Bilingualism is better. Bilingualism creates more jobs for Quebecers. French only limits the potential jobs. It has been proved too often that narrow, unilingual strategies have reduced the opportunities for young people. This narrow approach has driven people out of Quebec instead of welcoming opportunities.
And she can hardly lose ground to Éric Duhaime, leader of the mainly libertarian Quebec conservative party. When Duhaime holds news conferences that are half in English and half in French in Montreal, you hardly need to guess whose vote he is going after.
Anglade has to also make the point that to deny Quebecers their rights to their religion to hold a job with the province is the worst kind of bigotry. The National Assembly is a place to ensure Quebecers of their rights—not to deny them their rights. You have to recognize that there are four parties in the assembly that support Bill 96 regarding religious symbols. The party that understands that it is just another piece of roadkill for the supreme court is being honest with Quebecers. And that in itself will be a novelty.
And if you believe the pundits and reporters in Quebec, who say that Anglade’s campaign, as it is, is a loser, you know that Anglade has nothing to lose. Legault can be afraid of the truth but she needs to show that she is not.
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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
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