QUEBEC | Éric Duhaime echoed the words of the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CCP), Pierre Poilievre, who said yesterday that he wanted to free Quebec from the woke government of Justin Trudeau.
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“We will give hope to Quebecers, instead of being controlled by a centralizing and woke government in Ottawa,” Pierre Poilievre, in French, told voters in Quebec on Saturday evening.
Sunday morning, Éric Duhaime said he was driven by the same desire.
“In a way, I think so,” he replied when asked if he too wants to “free Quebec from the wokes.”
According to the leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ), “wokism” consists of wanting to divide society according to certain characteristics, mainly affecting sexual orientation and gender identity, and to practice positive discrimination.
“It’s often that,” he said. It’s putting differences forward and trying to divide society based on our differences.”
But are there woke parties in Quebec? “Québec solidaire describes itself as woke. On several issues too, Mr. Legault is playing the card. The rest of us are not our priority.”
Called to clarify how the Prime Minister is “playing this card”, the Conservative leader stammered that he was going to release later “examples of certain programs, of certain cases”.
“It’s the desire to look good,” he summed up.
Poilievre
Before entering his campaign bus on Sunday morning, Éric Duhaime congratulated Pierre Poilievre on his election as head of the PCC. He seemed enthusiastic about the idea of possibly collaborating with the new federal Conservative leader, with whom he considers to have a chemistry.
“Yesterday I was very happy. Mr. Poilievre opened the door to GNL Quebec. He even mentioned it in his victory speech. There are not five parties that are in favor of LNG in Quebec, there is only one and that is us.”
According to him, it would also be easier for Quebec to repatriate full powers in immigration with Pierre Poilievre at the head of the country.
A follower of Trump
The spokesperson for Québec solidaire, for his part, described the new Conservative leader as “a Canadian emulator of Donald Trump”. “What I see is that the members of the Conservative Party have chosen the Trumpist candidate and I find that worrying,” commented Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois on the sidelines of a press briefing in Chicoutimi.
According to him, François Legault will not be able to oppose Pierre Poilievre if he takes power and opens the door to new oil projects. “I don’t think we can trust François Legault to defend Quebec against Pierre Poilièvre’s pipeline projects,” said Mr. Nadeau-Dubois. The only party that can curb the oil projects of the Poilievre Conservatives is Quebec solidaire.”
While Mr. Poilievre said that Quebec “stands up to wokism” the solidarity leader refuses to say if he calls himself a “woke”. “This word, it has become fashionable, in certain circles, to disqualify people. I think that does not help us to move forward in the debate. There is no clear definition of what it means. So I don’t know exactly what Mr. Poilievre means when he says that. I didn’t really know what François Legault meant when he said that,” he explained.
– With the collaboration of Patrcik Bellerose