The anger of the Anglos | The Press

All you have to do is pick up the phone to verify it: the mood is not looking good among the province’s 900,000 or so Anglophones.

Many of them say they no longer belong to existing political parties, including the Liberal Party of Quebec, which has historically represented them.

To the point where a fringe is thinking of creating a new political party. A situation reminiscent of the emergence of the Equality Party in 1989 – a formation which had elected four deputies, but which had completely collapsed in the following election.

We will see if the current discontent will indeed be channeled into a political party. In any case, it represents bad news for social cohesion. And this must challenge us, starting with our politicians.

The first is Francois Legault.

You don’t need a doctorate in political science to understand that, from a strategic point of view, what is happening is candy for the Prime Minister. The division of the vote between the Liberal Party and a possible “Equality 2.0 Party” could only benefit the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ).

But no prime minister should be happy that part of the population says they feel alienated in their own province. The language issue has always been tricky in Quebec. After years of relative peace, the specter of further Franco-Anglo bickering is anything but cheerful.

Essentially, the recriminations of Anglophones are of three kinds.

1) They couldn’t digest having lost their school boards with Bill 40.

2) They still have Bill 21 on the prohibition of religious symbols across their throats (this law receives only 26% support among Anglophones, against 59% among Francos).

3) They feel overwhelmed by certain aspects of Bill 96 on the protection of French currently being studied.

Whether or not we agree with these complaints is irrelevant. The fact is that they exist and will influence both the social climate and the political contest.

Mr. Legault has a great deal of responsibility for what is happening.

Since its election, this government’s lack of sensitivity towards minorities has been flagrant. How many times have we heard the Prime Minister justify measures affecting minority rights by asserting that a “majority of Quebeckers agree”?

His reform of Bill 101 is justified and absolutely necessary – a good number of Quebec Anglophones agree on this. But it is piloted with a flagrant lack of tact.

The way in which the grant promised to Dawson College was cancelled, for example, deeply shocked Anglophones. “If we have to choose priorities, it is better to enlarge the French-speaking CEGEPs before adding capacity to Dawson,” Mr. Legault abruptly declared.

By practicing a policy of division, the CAQ forces the other parties to choose their camp. For the Liberal Party, the big gap between the desire to retain its Anglophone support and that of expanding its Francophone electorate is nothing new. But it is more difficult to achieve in this polarized context. This is all the more true as the party tries to redefine itself on an increasingly loaded political chessboard, which now has five parties likely to win seats.

The arrival of a sixth party that would draw from its base would certainly be a hard blow for the Liberals. But in a parliamentary system like ours (which the CAQ has given up on reforming after having promised to do so!), this multiplication of parties is not desirable either. The CAQ forms a majority government even though it won only 37% of the votes in the last election. What will it be next time, with a stronger Conservative Party and, perhaps, a new English-speaking party?

The leaders of the parties who aspire to govern Quebec have a duty to build bridges and reach out to voters from diverse backgrounds. Stirring up division may pay off politically. But the cost is measured in social fractures.