(Montreal) The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec reached out to Anglophones on Tuesday. He promises to repeal the reform of the Charter of the French language to protect “the historic rights” of the English-speaking minority and accuses in passing the chief caquiste François Legault of having divided the population between French-speaking and English-speaking.
Posted at 12:57 p.m.
Éric Duhaime disagrees with the use of the derogation clause to protect Law 96 from legal challenges, but not with all of its provisions. He wants to act on the immigration front “to better protect and promote French”.
He promises to repatriate full powers in immigration from the federal government “in a non-partisan, non-sovereignty way” so that newcomers “understand that learning French is a prerequisite in Quebec”.
He wants to select immigrants who master French or who have an ease, even “a greater desire” to learn it and that language programs be more accessible to promote their learning.
The Conservative leader made the announcement, alternating between French and English, at the Institut du courtage et de la finance located in Montreal, in the riding of Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques, represented by the co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Manon Massé.
No to a referendum
Éric Duhaime, who once worked as a political adviser for the Bloc Québécois in the 1990s, stated bluntly that he would vote no to a referendum if there was one today and that there would not be not in a first term of the Conservatives. However, it does not close the door to independence for future generations.
I want to close the door, but I don’t want to lock it and throw the key in the river.
Éric Duhaime, leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec
He said he wanted to make sure that future generations could have “that possibility” if they wanted to, but felt that “young people in Quebec don’t want sovereignty” right now.
Éric Duhaime often mentions in his public statements that the election is historic because it leaves the sovereigntist-federalist axis to enter the left-right axis.
According to a Léger poll released at the start of the election campaign, the PCQ attracts 15% of non-Francophone voting intentions against 53% for the Liberal Party of Quebec. More than half said they might change their minds by October 3. Éric Duhaime’s party is the second choice of 19% of non-francophones.
It was conducted through a web panel between August 22 and 26 with 1,000 Quebec voters. The method used does not make it possible to calculate a margin of error, but it would be 3.1%, 19 times out of 20 in the case of a probability survey where the respondents are selected randomly.
More details to come.