(Quebec) Pierre Poilievre will be a “decentralizer” and a “unifier, but not a” Trumpist “, according to Éric Duhaime. The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec reacted Sunday to the unequivocal victory of Mr. Poilievre who became the new leader of the Conservative Party on the federal scene.
Posted at 1:50 p.m.
The Quebec Conservative leader sees him as an ally. The two men have known each other for more than twenty years. Éric Duhaime considers him a personal friend. They campaigned together in Ottawa and Mr. Poilievre had even lent a hand to Mr. Duhaime when he presented himself as a candidate for the Democratic Action of Quebec in 2003.
“He is a guy who will, I am convinced, be a unifier,” he reacted. He highlighted his mastery of French and his interest in Quebec. “We haven’t had a perfectly bilingual Conservative leader like him for a long time – since Brian Mulroney, I think –,” he continued.
There is a certain ideological proximity between the two leaders. For example, the spending cap legislation promised by Mr. Duhaime is inspired by a promise made by Mr. Poilievre during the leadership race.
He was delighted that the new federal Conservative leader was opening the door to the GNL Québec gas project. Éric Duhaime’s Conservative Party is proposing to revive it during the Quebec election campaign, to the point of making it a referendum question in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region.
“Quebecers must understand that it is important to have a strong Conservative Party in Quebec,” he argued. When we look at federal politics, the most decentralizing in English Canada have often been on the Conservative side much more than on the Liberal or NDP side. »
He believes that he would have an attentive ear from his counterpart to repatriate the federal powers in immigration to Quebec.
Mr Duhaime also criticized the comparison between Mr Poilievre and former US President Donald Trump. The co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, had described the new federal Conservative leader as a “Trumpist emulator”.
“Once again, Mr. Nadeau-Dubois uses hyperbole that is completely out of place and qualifiers that are inappropriate,” he commented. I don’t see how there is a parallel, on the contrary. Mr. Poilievre is a Canadian, he has nothing to do with what is happening south of our borders. »
what to be woke ?
In his victory speech on Saturday evening, Mr. Poilievre said he wanted to give “hope to Quebecers” so that they regain “control of their decision and their lives instead of being controlled by a government centralizer and woke in Ottawa”.
How does Éric Duhaime define the wokism ? “For me, it’s wanting to divide society according to different characteristics,” he replied. This is the whole idea of so-called positive discrimination. Me, I am not in a dynamic of discrimination. »
He gave the example of the fact that the Conservative Party of Quebec is “the second most culturally diverse party” and that it has 40% female candidates without having had to impose quotas.
For him, Québec solidaire is a party woke just like the Coalition avenir Québec in some respects. “Mr. Legault is playing the card, but the rest of us are not our priorities. wokism “, he said without giving concrete examples other than” the desire to look good “.