(Quebec) Four years after agreeing to participate in a leaders’ debate in English, the first electoral confrontation in this language for decades, Prime Minister François Legault declines the invitation this time. Ditto for PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, but for a different reason.
Posted at 3:34 p.m.
Updated at 3:40 p.m.
François Legault invokes the heaviness of preparing for a debate during an election campaign. He specifies that he has already accepted two debates in French, the traditional contests organized by TVA and Radio-Canada. “We decline the debate in English because of the preparation time it requires for the Prime Minister”, explains his press secretary Ewan Sauves. The invitation had been made by a group of English media (CBC, CTV, Global and CJAD).
In 2018, Mr. Legault had yet agreed to participate in a leaders’ debate in English. It was the first time there had been a debate in that language since 1985. François Legault then courted English-speaking voters to gouge support for the Liberal Party of Quebec. In an advertising video, he spoke directly to them in English to convince them to vote for the CAQ, a militant party for “Quebec to flourish within Canada” and representing an “alternative” to the PLQ ” worn out” who takes them “for granted”. ” Join us! he would say.
Photo Jacques Boissinot, archives The Canadian Press
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon
Four years later, his reform of Bill 101 — Bill 96 — raised discontent in the English-speaking community.
In 2018, PQ leader Jean-François Lisée participated in the leaders’ debate in English. His successor Paul St-Pierre Plamondon refuses to do the same, arguing that “the official and common language in Quebec is French”. “We will of course be available to answer questions from English-speaking journalists,” he said.
In recent weeks, two English-speaking parties have sprung up out of dissatisfaction with the Liberals and in reaction to Bill 96.
For one of these parties, the Canadian Party of Quebec, “François Legault and Paul St-Pierre Plamondon have proven their incredible insensitivity towards Quebecers whose mother tongue is not French, by refusing to join in the English-speaking debate in autumn. This shows that they do not believe that we are Quebecers with the same equality. This is unacceptable, and just demonstrates their lack of understanding of us and the contributions our community has made to Quebec and Canada.” The party says it is “currently awaiting authorization” and maintains that it “should be invited to the debate”. The Liberal Party, Québec solidaire, and the Conservative Party of Québec were.
Saturday, the PLQ holds a demonstration against the reform of law 101.