(Ottawa) The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, says he is “extremely worried” when he notes that Montreal and the rest of Quebec are “detaching themselves from each other”.
“There are two Quebecs. Unfortunately, it’s becoming true,” he said in an interview with The Canadian Press, repeating the words of a question aimed at clarifying his thoughts.
First there is Montreal, “a Quebec”, which is becoming “a city that is at best bilingual, possibly multilingual, in a very passive way, where the history, the language, the values, the culture of the very generous host society are marginalized.
“And there is a Quebec that looks at Montreal as if Montreal is becoming a foreign place. »
Already, he judges, Montreal is no longer the second largest French-speaking city in the world. In the metropolis, “we abandon a large part of what we are for the benefit of what should enrich it” rather than “integrate” it, he said.
The situation is “dramatic, […] very serious,” said Mr. Blanchet, confident of causing “anxiety.” “It must be a single culture, a single nation, with all its diversity. This is Quebec. And we are in the process of escaping that. »
Two Montreals?
For political science professor at the University of Sherbrooke Jean-François Daoust, who specializes in public opinion polls and nationalism, from an electoral point of view, “it’s obvious” that Montreal stands out from the rest of Quebec.
In the same breath, he judges this dichotomy “simplistic” since there is “at least […] two Montreals” as the variations there are “enormous”. The east of the island holds, he says, “a discourse” much closer to that of the rest of Quebec than the west.
This can be explained in particular by socio-demographic divisions. Language, for example, is “one of the most important predictors” in the Bloc vote.
Mr. Daoust nevertheless affirms that, overall, Montrealers are distinguished from the rest of Quebec by values and opinions said to be more progressive or liberal. “When we are more liberal, we vote more for a party that is in line with these values,” he said.
His colleague from Laval University, Éric Montigny, however, points out that the Bloc is not known for being a party of the moral right. “It’s a party that positions itself rather to the left on a social level.”
Likewise, it is not resolutely on the economic right either, so much so that a Montreal electorate more to the left or center left does not constitute “a hostile land”, not to mention that the party talks a lot about environmental issues which resonate well in the metropolis.
As for reflections on multiculturalism and interculturalism, Professor Montigny judges that “one of the challenges of a political leader is not to play the anthropologist or sociologist, it is to try to bring together through political discourse.
“We will not give up on Montreal”
The Bloc leader rightly believes that it is in Montreal that his training has the most work to do. “We will not give up on Montreal,” he insisted.
The Bloc currently holds 32 of the 78 seats in Quebec. However, there is only one in the metropolis, the very French-speaking La Pointe-de-l’Île which essentially overlaps Pointe-aux-Trembles and Montréal-Est.
Of the island’s 17 other federal ridings, 16 are Liberal and one – Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie – is New Democratic.
As he prepares to mark his five years as leader on Wednesday, Mr. Blanchet was delighted to have raised a party given up for dead and declared that he would now like to make it “without nuance” the voice of Quebec in Ottawa.
This is because Justin Trudeau’s troops have 35 MPs in the province, three more than the Bloc who nevertheless received more votes.
Becoming the first party in terms of seats involves making gains and offsetting possible losses at the hands of the Conservatives who are hunting on Bloc lands outside Montreal, explained Professor Montigny.
The Bloc must therefore, according to him, target constituencies where it has had a history, a presence. “And this is the case on the island of Montreal: from the east of Montreal to the heart of Montreal,” he insists.
Among the previous breakthroughs, he notes that of the former Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe who was elected in Laurier–Sainte-Marie, a riding made up of portions of Plateau-Mont-Royal. And even in cultural communities, Osvaldo Núñez, a candidate of Chilean origin, was elected in 1993 in Bourassa, which notably includes Montréal-Nord.
Professor Daoust warns, however, that the territory where the Bloc can hope to make gains is “retreating further and further towards the East” and would “certainly not” be further West than in its best years when it held up to seven constituencies following general elections.
Historically, the BQ has also held, sometimes very briefly, certain ridings, such as Rosemont–La-Petite-Patrie, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Ahuntsic, Papineau, Anjou–Rivière-des-Prairies or Jeanne-Leber.