The Bloc Québécois contests the creation of the “Bloc Montréal”, judging that this new provincial party founded by the former candidate for mayor, Balarama Holness, “would create confusion” and could mislead voters.
Posted at 5:30 p.m.
“We are writing to you today to officially challenge the creation of a new political formation under the name Bloc Montreal. A few months before a general election in Quebec, the appearance of a political party thus named would only create confusion, as some voters may be led to believe that it could be linked to our party,” wrote the president. of the Bloc Québécois and former Bloc Québécois MP Johanne Deschamps, in a letter sent to the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec (DGEQ) in recent days.
Mme Deschamps also states in his letter that “in recent weeks, several leading media have raised the resemblance between the name of the Bloc Québécois and that of Bloc Montreal”.
“However, our values are radically opposed, both in terms of language and [sur] regional development or our ambitions for the future of Quebec, making any resemblance between the names of our two political parties all the more unjustifiable and damaging,” denounced the party president.
The latter reiterates that on the eve of an election, “it is imperative to facilitate access to information for the electorate, while avoiding any risk of misunderstanding and ambiguity, in particular considering the multiple competing policies”. “For purposes of clarity and consistency, we therefore ask you, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, not to authorize the use of this name by this new party,” she concludes.
“No basis”, replies Holness
Reached on this subject, the leader of the Montreal Bloc, Balarama Holness, affirms that he has no intention of changing the name of his party. “The Bloc Québécois has no legal basis for this complaint. It is a political party at the federal level and we are a political party at the provincial level,” he says.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Balarama Holness
“The central thesis of the Bloc Québécois is that the federal government interferes in provincial affairs. And here, ironically, that’s exactly what they do. It’s unimaginably hypocritical,” added Mr. Holness, adding that “following the logic of the Bloc Québécois,” the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) could not coexist with the Liberal Party of Canada (PLC).
At the DGEQ, spokesperson Gabriel Sauvé-Lesiège confirms that the Bloc Montreal party has been approved as a political formation for the next Quebec elections this fall. He specifies, however, that the DGEQ only takes into account “the names of parties authorized at the provincial and municipal level” to render a decision, which explains why the Bloc Montreal was approved even if the Bloc Québécois, a federal party, has existed for a long time.
More generally, a party name should not “be likely to lead voters to misunderstand the party to which they are directing their contributions,” says Mr. Sauvé-Lesiège. “The party name must not be identical or similar to the name of an authorized or having been authorized party or to the name of any other group or organization of public notoriety. The voter who pays a contribution to a party must be able to do so without risk of confusion,” he added.
Moreover, the name of a party must not include the word “independent”, so as not to confuse the latter with candidates with no political affiliation in Quebec.
A former Alouettes player, Balarama Holness first became known to the general public through his involvement at the helm of Montréal en action, an organization that forced the city to hold a public consultation on systemic racism. In the last municipal elections, he won just over 7% of the vote when he ran for mayor of Montreal under the banner of the party he created, Mouvement Montréal.
He then announced in April the creation of a provincial party, Mouvement Québec, which he then had to rename Bloc Montreal, due to a refusal by the DGEQ. According to Mr. Holness, Bloc Montreal will mainly aim to take ridings defended by the Liberals. He is also targeting 10 in particular, all represented by Liberals, including that of leader Dominique Anglade, Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne, but also Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, D’Arcy-McGee, Nelligan, Robert-Baldwin, Jacques-Cartier, Mont-Royal–Outremont, Marquette, Saint-Laurent and Westmount–Saint-Louis.