The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, is preparing to be the “adult in the room” when Parliament returns to the Commons next week, posing as a responsible “arbiter” between the “extreme” proposals of the other parties.
“Quebecers are not extremists,” said the sovereignist politician Thursday, in a speech organized in front of the Sherbrooke hotel, which is hosting the Bloc caucus meeting.
Yves-François Blanchet described other political groups as aggravating the polarization of society, using the word “extreme” extensively to describe the vision of the Conservative Party of Canada and that of “the Liberal-NDP coalition”.
“In the extreme multiculturalism of the Liberal Party, there is a perpetual aggression against the identity and specificity of Quebec [et] the other end is conservative values [qui] do not percolate that much in Quebec, [comme de limiter] medical assistance in dying, the right of women to have control over their own body,” he argued.
He concluded his demonstration by emphasizing that the country’s two main political parties share the objective of welcoming half a million immigrants per year. He also accuses them of being in step with regard to aid to the oil industry.
The leader of the Bloc also promises to make Parliament function well. He prides himself on being “responsible”, a word chosen for the theme of the parliamentary re-entry. “If we take Parliament as an arena in which we beat each other, the population will drop out. »
Reply to Poilievre
After announcing that he would, at the start of the school year, focus on the issues of the environment, the cost of living and immigration, Yves-François Blanchet responded to the attacks launched against him by conservative leader Pierre Poilievre the previous week, but in a different tone.
“Pierre Poilievre arrived in Quebec to try to take seats in Quebec, to try to get a majority. [Mais] Who is capable of taking away the majority from the conservatives? And who took it from the Liberals in 2019 and 2021? […] The same reasoning applies. »
The leader of the official opposition made fun of the Bloc Québécois leader’s trip to Catalonia. He then several times portrayed this party as complacent towards the fiscal policy of the Liberal government, going so far as to say that elderly people had to skip meals “to pay the Blanchet-Trudeau tax” which in his eyes constitutes the regulation on fuels. clean.
On Thursday, Mr. Blanchet also attacked Justin Trudeau for having formulated “an insult” towards municipalities, arguing that he trusts mayors more than the Prime Minister to manage this issue.
He also allowed himself a subtle jab at Québec solidaire and the Liberal Party of Quebec, who had chosen to pay for advertising on the Meta platform on the sidelines of the by-election in Jean-Talon, before turning around THURSDAY. The social media multinational is criticized for not collaborating with the government in its plan to make it pay part of the cost of information.
“We are not obliged to buy advertising in the current state of things,” said Mr. Blanchet.
Constituencies in his sights
Even if he predicts that the elections are not for tomorrow, given the results of recent polls, the leader of the Bloc took advantage of the holding of his congress in Sherbrooke to unveil the list of four constituencies in Estrie that he wants see them become Bloc members.
The Bloc thus has its “eye” on the ridings of Sherbrooke (held by the Liberal Élisabeth Brière), Compton-Stanstead (with the Minister of National Revenue, Marie-Claude Bibeau), Brome-Missisquoi (narrowly won in 2021 by the Minister of Heritage, Pascale St-Onge), and finally Richmond-Arthabaska, which he named twice in his speech.
This constituency was won by the conservative Alain Rayes in 2021. The elected official left his political party after the arrival of Pierre Poilievre as leader last year. He recently announced that he would not run in the next election.