During his victory speech on Saturday, the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), Pierre Poilievre, praised Quebeckers, who he said are “defending their heritage, their culture and their language” without apologizing. .
“The Quebec nation, he said, stands up to wokism. »
If Mr. Poilievre adopted that evening a less brittle tone than during the months which preceded his victory, his remarks on Quebec come at the right time in the Quebec election campaign.
They especially put François Legault on the defensive. Remember that the CAQ leader had set the tone at the opening of the parliamentary session of the National Assembly last fall, calling Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois ” woke after the latter had criticized his intervention in the last federal campaign. François Legault had given his support to the PCC by stressing the commitment of its then leader, Erin O’Toole, not to challenge the Act respecting the secularism of the State nor what was at that time the project of law 96.
However, the day after Mr. Poilievre’s resounding victory in the race for the Conservative leadership, Mr. Legault repudiated the comments he had made about the co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire last fall. “If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t do it,” he insisted. I do not intend to continue on the definition and place of wokism. »
After a start to the campaign marked by the blunders of the leader of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), who seems to have become his worst enemy by venturing down one slippery slope after another, we understand that the CAQ strategists want to better supervise the intervention by their leader. But by repudiating his past words on Wokism and what this phenomenon represents, Mr. Legault leaves the door wide open for the leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec (which has no official ties to the CCP), Éric Duhaime, to he takes over by welcoming Pierre Poilievre’s victory as good news for Quebec.
On Sunday, Mr Duhaime dismissed comparisons between the new leader of the federal Conservatives and Donald Trump. Instead, he emphasized Mr. Poilievre’s alleged “decentralizing” orientations. As for him, he did not hesitate to define wokism as a political doctrine which seeks to “divide society according to different characteristics” and which advocates “positive discrimination”.
However, if Quebec has acquired the reputation in the rest of Canada and elsewhere in the world of being a bastion of anti-Wokism, Mr. Duhaime has nothing to do with it: it is rather thanks to Mr. Legault and the government policies he has been leading for four years. The Act respecting the secularism of the State (PL 21) and the Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, French (PL 96) made headlines outside the province, as did the reduction in the thresholds of immigration under the CAQ government.
Quebec stands out within Canada by going against current trends in terms of diversity. Admittedly, these trends are not unanimous across the country. But even a right-wing populist like Pierre Poilievre would never dare to propose banning the wearing of religious symbols in federal institutions in the country. In English Canada, antiwokism has its limits as a political strategy.
It is too early to measure the popularity that Mr. Poilievre could have in Quebec.
Outside of staunch progressive circles, attempts to associate the new conservative leader with Trumpism are unlikely to go very far. The new leader of the CPC is fluent in French, which distinguishes him from all his predecessors in Canadian history, with the exception of Brian Mulroney, and gives him a head start on MM. O’Toole, Scheer and Harper in his quest for votes from French-speaking Quebecers, failing to win their hearts.
During the leadership race, Pierre Poilievre won 72 of the 78 ridings in Quebec, leaving only crumbs for Jean Charest. The former Premier of Quebec needed to sweep his adversary in the province to prevent the latter’s victory in the first round of voting, and it is quite the opposite that happened. The tidal wave that brought Mr. Poilievre to the reins of the party betrays a massive rejection of the moderate conservatism advocated by Mr. Charest by a majority of Quebec CCP activists. It remains to be seen whether this momentum will extend beyond the activist base.
For the moment, the victory of Pierre Poilievre seems to give a boost to Éric Duhaime above all – and a big headache to François Legault.