The tearing apart of the agreement that allowed the Liberals to stay in power thanks to the support of the New Democrats has provoked a sudden interest in the Bloc Québécois, which has regained the balance of power, notes its leader Yves-François Blanchet.
“Canadians are suddenly very interested in us,” he said Monday evening in front of nearly a hundred activists and MPs gathered in a microbrewery in Montebello, in Outaouais, on the sidelines of his political party’s pre-sessional caucus.
Mr. Blanchet was responding to comments by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith that the federal government does not have the mandate to “negotiate with Quebec separatists at the expense of Alberta, the West and the rest of the country,” or an election should be called “immediately.”
According to him, “people whose intentions are not the most noble” are taking advantage of this to “denigrate” Quebec and Quebecers given that “Canadians know little about Quebec, they know Quebec poorly.”
“So if Canada is interested – for a few weeks or a few months – in us, well we will have the opportunity to explain more about who we are. We are not the bad guys in this business. […] We are the good ones.”
He joked that, through his remarks, Premier Smith was disappointed that the Bloc was getting things for Quebec that Alberta didn’t get. “I understand her being disappointed in the Conservative MPs,” he said, drawing laughter and applause from the room.
Mr. Blanchet instead suggested that the people of the West and the Alberta Premier do “like the rest of us” and create “a Western Bloc that will speak only for the West.”
Activists met on site judged that the Bloc has a greater interest in concluding agreements that keep Justin Trudeau’s minority government in power and that allow Quebecers to find their account rather than promoting the triggering of elections.
“If it can last six months, if it can last a year, I agree with that if there can be gains for Quebec! […] “It will give a boost to Quebec,” said Michel Chalifoux.
As for Mr.me Smith, he retorts that “it’s not so bad to want to found a country.”
In front of him, at his table, Yves Maheux did not hear it the same way. “It’s not ‘disable’,” he declared, raising his arm. “That insulted me, not just a little. Not bad!” […] They always treat us like we’re no good.”
Met on the terrace, Drummond MP Martin Champoux noted that the use of this word, used “wrongly and indiscriminately to stick a sort of negative label on the separatists,” reveals above all that those who use it “have exhausted their arguments” and have resorted to “attempted insults.” After all, the 32 Bloc MPs were elected by the population, he noted.
According to him, Mme Smith should think twice before denouncing negotiations with separatists given that some potential gains could benefit Albertans.
He cited the increase in pensions for seniors aged 65 to 74, which the Bloc plans to make a priority for the new school year and which it places very high on its list of what it could offer in exchange for support during a confidence vote.
During this gathering, which had all the appearance of a stop in the election campaign, even though advance voting had begun in the riding of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun, Mr. Blanchet presented his party as the perfect strategic vote.
“There are people who say: we should block one or block the other,” he said. “You know what: each Bloc Québécois MP blocks a Liberal MP and blocks a Conservative MP. You want to be strategic: you want neither the tarantula nor the viper: you vote Bloc Québécois!”
The Bloc caucus meeting is taking place on Tuesday for a second day. The next day, about half of the delegation will tour the riding where they met, Argenteuil–La Petite-Nation. The other half will head to LaSalle-Émard-Verdun where the final stretch of the campaign begins.