Quebec Election Pocket book: Deleting English, divisiveness and referendum denial

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Other than the Parti Québécois and the Coalition Avenir Québec, all the foremost provincial events talk about their insurance policies and platforms in English in addition to French on their web sites.

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On Wednesday, CAQ Chief François Legault personally intervened to take away English content material from his celebration’s web site, La Presse Canadienne reported.

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The offending phrases had been in an English model of a CAQ doc. Titled “Now. Our document,” it outlined the celebration’s achievements over the previous 4 years.

“The complete web site is just in French,” Legault stated. “There was a (part) that had been made bilingual. It ought to have been all in French.”

Suggesting the anglophone neighborhood is “very nicely handled,” he stated the CAQ deleted the English to spotlight the truth that French is Quebec’s solely official language.

As of three p.m. Wednesday, “Now. Our document” was nonetheless splashed on the entrance web page of the English facet of the celebration’s web site. However clicking “learn extra” introduced guests to a French model of the doc.

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For now, at the very least, the CAQ has saved beforehand posted English-language press releases, the final of which is dated Jan 13, 2022, asserting the top of the second pandemic curfew. A hyperlink to an English donation web page additionally stays.

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Éric Duhaime denies he’s leaving the door open to a attainable sovereignty referendum.

On CJAD Wednesday morning, the Quebec Conservative chief insisted “by no means below my management will there be a referendum, interval.”

He was reacting to information protection of his press convention on yesterday.

Requested about sovereignty and referendums on Tuesday, Duhaime, a former Parti Québécois and Bloc Québécois activist, stated there can be no referendum “throughout the subsequent mandate” if he turns into premier. He additionally stated that “within the present context,” he would vote No in a sovereignty referendum.

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Right here’s how Le Journal de Montréal interpreted Duhaime’s phrases: “Independence: It’s No now, however perhaps Sure later, Duhaime says.”

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Might Legault’s CAQ come up the center and make a breakthrough in hostile territory — the West Island?

The state of affairs was floated by veteran political observer and poll-watcher Éric Grenier in his The Writ e-newsletter this week.

He zoomed in on Marquette driving, which incorporates Dorval and Lachine, which the Liberals gained handily in 2018, garnering 43 per cent of the vote forward of the second-place Coalition Avenir Québec (28 per cent).

The driving has lengthy been a Liberal bastion. Former skilled hockey participant Enrico Ciccone gained for the Liberals in 2018 and is searching for re-election.

Grenier famous the Liberals’ are rating poorly amongst francophones and “are having some bother amongst non-francophone voters, at the very least when in comparison with their standard dominance.” In the meantime, Quebec Conservatives are gaining amongst non-francophones.

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“There may be the potential that in a seat like Marquette, the Conservatives may break up the vote sufficient to let the CAQ transfer forward,” Grenier writes.

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Dominique Anglade is accusing François Legault of pitting Quebecers in opposition to each other.

Talking at a press convention in St-Jacques-le-Mineur Wednesday, the Liberal chief was requested to touch upon the document of Legault’s CAQ authorities.

“He’s a premier who has divided Quebecers, whether or not it’s francophone versus anglophone or immigrant versus non-immigrant,” Anglade stated. “He’s all the time dividing Quebecers.”

As premier, Legault has targeted completely on serving to individuals who assist his celebration as a result of he thinks solely CAQ supporters are “good Quebecers,” she added.

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“We’re all Quebecers,” Anglade stated. “My message is regardless of the area you come from, regardless of the language you communicate at dwelling, I’ll be the premier of all Quebecers.”

She stated Legault once more confirmed how divisive he will be on the weekend when he steered that “folks from Montreal ought to cease wanting down on folks from Quebec Metropolis and Lévis.”

Anglade stated: “We’re all Quebecers. I feel Quebec Metropolis is ready to determine for Quebec Metropolis; Montreal is ready to determine for Montreal. We shouldn’t pit one in opposition to the opposite. There’s no place for that.”

ariga@postmedia.com

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