So next Monday Quebecers will elect a new government. It will be led by one of the leaders of the two major parties vying to govern the province for the next four or five years, le Parti Liberal du Quebec, or the upstart CAQ (Coalition Avenir du Quebec) party.
Heading into the final days of the campaign the incumbent premier, and leader of the governing Liberal Party, Philippe Couillard, and leader of the opposition CAQ, Francois Legault, were running neck and neck, with the latter party holding a slight lead, heading into minority government territory, according to pundits.
And so it – the election campaign – went on. It’s politics, Quebec politics, always with some added elements – the perennial language issue and more powers for Quebec (from Ottawa). Does the federal government really have more “powers” left to give Quebec?
[Sometimes I wonder if provincial politicians outside Quebec are obsessed/afflicted with that “more powers” political disease.]
In the interim I’m just watching and listening as the campaign plays out. So far as elections go I haven’t heard or seen evidence of anything extraordinary that will be done to grab my attention and vote. It’s just another routine election campaign, everything been promised… if.
That said, I’ve been really pondering on passing on this election, which I will continue to do Sunday night when I go to bed, and Monday morning, October 1, election day, if I’m blessed with another day of life, which I never take for granted.
Having come to that conclusion I’ve been recycling a lot of election-related clippings from various newspapers, along with notes I’ve been making every time I hear the leaders of the respective parties and candidates selling their election platform of goods. I’ve simply concluded that it’s all election campaign redundancy.
Nothing that I’ve heard so far (especially from the two competing parties) has moved me. Yes, leaders of the minor parties have stated some things of interest, which would get my vote. Unfortunately they have no chance of forming the next government.
So the other day I picked up a pamphlet that was pushed into my mail slot a few days ago. It was from the (PLQ) Sainte-Henri-St. Anne riding office in the Southwest. On the cover was a picture of the current deputy and candidate, a smiling Dominique Anglade, who took over from Marguerite Blais who represented the Liberal stronghold for several years before retiring in 2015.
Mme Anglade’s sales pitch naturally caught my eye: “To Make Life Easier For Quebecers.” On the back is one of her boss, the premier, looking serious and businesslike. His sales pitch: “We have strengthened Quebec, now we will make life easier for Quebecers.”
Since arriving on the scene Mme Anglade has been premier Couillard’s right hand woman, often seen at his side. Each time I see both of them I think that she’s being groomed to become the first “ethnic… non-white/biracial” premier of the province.
So as I’m perusing the pamphlet, my political ‘jadedness’ kicked in; none of the literature impressed me. It’s simply politics as usual. And if the PLQ wins the election on October 1, all that political niceness in their election pamphlet, when and if translated, is left to be seen.
But there’s one issue that has been coming up with regularity during this election campaign, Immigration.
The CAQ leader for one is taking a hard line on the subject, and it has become increasingly noxious, especially since the current president of the United States assumed the highest office in the land, those United States. And many politicians around the world are jostling and nudging to be in his ideological orbit.
Is that contentious immigration issue a harbinger of things to come if we’ll be hearing the appellation, Quebec premier-elect, Francois Legault, late Monday night-Tuesday morning?
