Galvanized by the performance of their leader in the second debate, Conservative activists again responded by the hundreds to the rally in Lévis on Friday evening, around a speech tinged with frustration and hope.
“Over time, we have become the covidiots, the toothless. Our angels have become garbage. Our neighbors, our informers, our families, our accusers, ”denounced the candidate of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) in Côte-du-Sud, Frédéric Poulin, during a long presentation recalling the years of a pandemic. “Then there was Éric Duhaime,” he said, triggering cries in the room.
At the Center des Congrès de Lévis, the hall of 1,900 people was easily two-thirds full. On site, young parents with their children in their arms, but also retirees. Several waved Quebec flags, a sign of nationalism that was reflected in particular in the speech of the host Anne Casabonne who rejoiced at the opening of the fact that disappointed nationalists were deserting the Coalition Avenir Québec to join the PCQ.
“Who won the debate? “, she launched to the crowd. “Duhaime! Duhaime,” they chanted.
While waiting for the arrival of the leader and some 25 candidates, the party projected videos with rock music in the background, showing Éric Duhaime training with George Saint-Pierre or parachuting with Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge.
The organizers then broadcast video extracts from the debate the day before highlighting Éric Duhaime and highlighting the missteps of François Legault who was treated to his share of boos during the rally.
Irritated by the comparison with Trump
Jean-Clément, a retiree from Quebec, had dressed up as a sandwich man for the occasion. “More than enough to serve as a scapegoat,” read the front. “Because we refuse to let ourselves be injected with experimental treatments with sometimes serious short-term side effects”.
His long speech was carefully written without mistakes and in capital letters. Jean Clément also confides that he has sometimes been temporarily banned from certain social networks, among other things because he writes “in capital letters”.
He did not think of coming to the rally, but the attacks of the day by François Legault against Éric Duhaime and the comparison with Donald Trump made him angry. He thinks that governments are controlled by multinationals, that pharmaceuticals are filling their pockets.
Alexandre and Caroline, a couple from Saint-Apollinaire, had gone to the rally with their baby, Léo. “Freedom of choice is something that appeals to me a lot. The complementarity of health care with the private sector. Same thing for the $200 for daycare, it gives freedom of choice”.
The couple regularly listened to Éric Duhaime’s weekly online rally on Tuesday evenings well before the election campaign. “We didn’t have the impression that there was a real opposition in the National Assembly,” explains Caroline.
In front of his supporters, Éric Duhaime has long returned to the hesitations of François Legault in the file of the third link and on the “parachuting” of candidate journalists in the ridings of the South Shore of Quebec. He invited his supporters to ensure that “Martine Biron and Bernard Drainville are the temporary residents to stay in Lévis for the shortest time”.
The Conservative leader also did not fail to return to the attacks that François Legault had served on him earlier in the day. “He said I had disqualified myself from being party leader!” “, he launched in the room triggering a concert of boos. “He’s saying that you too are disqualified!” »
The politician also mocked the fact that François Legault compared him to Donald Trump. “He compared me to Donald Trump! Apart from having Anne [Casabone] next to me who is as beautiful as Melania, I do not see what we have in common, ”he launched without however completely dissociating himself from the former Republican president. “That doesn’t mean I don’t consider it, I do. They try to stigmatize us. »