“I will not promise to reform the voting system like all those who have done in the past to slip away when they came to power. »
Posted yesterday at 10:00 a.m.
This was Éric Duhaime’s answer to the question of whether he was calling for a change in an electoral system of which he was – and by far – the biggest victim during the last elections.
Heartbreaker
Despite a historic breakthrough with 13% of the vote for his party, after having managed to raise it to the level of the other four, the Conservative leader was faced with the heartbreaking result of not succeeding in electing any MP , including himself.
While emphasizing the unjust nature of the situation, Éric Duhaime limited himself to asking for accommodations such as being able to have an office at the National Assembly and to be associated with the Parliamentary Tribune.
The immediate revealing reaction of several commentators was to emphasize that we could not aspire to anything if we had not had a deputy elected, like François Legault who had difficulty hiding his resentment against the person who represented the harshest criticism of his handling of the health crisis.
The Prime Minister should change his mind and authorize the adjustments demanded by a Conservative leader who loyally played the democratic game, backed by the 500,000 Quebecers who voted for him.
The Quebec media, they should stop systematically belittling what Éric Duhaime is carrying, the temptation these days being to ignore the Conservative Party as much as possible under the pretext that it did not elect any MPs.
Need we recall the extremely unhealthy cul-de-sac to which the total sidelining of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally led in France?
In a high-profile speech on election night, Éric Duhaime served our democracy well by urging understandably frustrated supporters to come to terms with the election results. He appears willing to play a game that is currently biased against him, which could turn in his favor in a future that Duhaime seems to believe.
Strong and dismissable governments
The Conservative leader has understood that our electoral system, in addition to favoring a francophone majority in historic decline, regularly produces strong governments, but also governments that can be dismissed.
The analogy to be made here is with the Liberals of Robert Bourassa having elected 102 deputies out of 110 to general indignation in 1973, when the PQ’s deputies fell from seven to six despite an increase in the popular vote from 23 to 30%. The same PQ will take power by a majority just three years later, able to have the Charter of the French language adopted, among other things.
Our compatriots who voted for the Conservative Party can hope to one day take power in their turn, by having the means to implement the program for which they are fighting. But can they, in the meantime, obtain the respect to which they are entitled in a democracy?
There are signs that suggest so, from the early campaign recommendation of the assistant editor of The PressFrançois Cardinal, not to fall into the trap of qualifying the Conservative Party as an extreme right, with the demonization that would automatically result.
Emmanuelle Latraverse, for her part, was not afraid to recall that the Conservative leader’s speech on election night had been the most responsible, with that of François Legault, not to mention this respectful and intelligent exchange between Patrick Lagacé and Éric Duhaime last week at two golden men.
Quebec media discredited
The dismissal of conservatives who are partly outside the Quebec consensus has so far been largely the work of commentators of all stripes. We sometimes had the impression that their systematic complacency in favor of Québec solidaire yielded only to their equally systematic devaluation of what Éric Duhaime represents.
It is difficult not to make the connection with these Quebec media which have abdicated their critical sense for far too long during the health crisis.
Many Quebecers, who had nothing conspiratorial or irresponsible, then felt betrayed by a profession which, unable to convey their legitimate concerns about the excesses of the new health order, such as the odious multiplication of scapegoats , appeared in incestuous collusion with the government.
The Quebec media have the possibility of counterbalancing the injustice of the results of the last election with regard to the Conservatives of Éric Duhaime.
Will they seize the opportunity presented to them to restore the credibility that they have lost in the eyes of many Quebecers, by forcing themselves to report on the activities of a party without a member, but acclaimed by a large number of our compatriots unfairly stigmatized during the health crisis?