Something amazing is happening with the financing of political parties. The least popular collect the most money.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Since January, the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) and the Parti Quebecois (PQ) have dominated, with nearly $430,000 in donations. They are also the ones with the most donors – the PCQ has about 8,000, almost double the PQ. The Caquists come in third, followed by the Solidarity and the Liberals.
How to explain this?
First, they defend a strong idea. The PQ is the only one to make independence the heart of its political action, while the PCQ embodies the uninhibited right.
Second, the majority of party funding comes from the state, depending on the number of votes obtained. The PCQ had hardly obtained any in 2018. For him, collecting donations is crucial. He devotes a lot of energy to it.
But that’s not all. If Eric Duhaime’s party attracts, it is because it fills a void on the right.
Let’s go back to the summer of 2010. The ADQ is in freefall. Disillusioned, right-wing activists create the Réseau Liberté-Québec. One of its co-founders is Éric Duhaime.
The following year, the CAQ was born and the ADQ joined it. Some former ADQ members are wary of François Legault, however. The future will prove them right. The CAQ government has remained rather centrist on economic and social issues. And during the pandemic, the state has occupied more of our lives than ever before. It was the final straw for these right-wing orphans. They now had a cause and a pool of angry people.
All they needed was a motivated leader.
Where do the 14% of Quebecers come from who would vote for Éric Duhaime?
Angus Reid asked respondents who they voted for in 2018, and who they support now. Mr. Duhaime draws first from the CAQ electorate, and to a lesser extent from the PQ.
In 2018, the CAQ took advantage of a protest vote. Many used it to fire the liberals.
Since taking office, the CAQ has won supporters among the PQ and French-speaking Liberals, especially baby boomers. But she lost some among the ex-adéquistes and those who denounce the “system”.
The divorce between Mr. Legault and the ex-adéquistes is consummated.
Among those who would vote today for the CAQ, Mr. Duhaime is the last choice. And the reverse is true. The Conservatives no longer want to know anything about Mr. Legault. Striking example: Conservative voters make purchasing power a priority, but according to a recent Leger poll, 72% of them are critical of the $500 check offered in the latest CAQ budget.
Québec solidaire also has an anti-authoritarian and anti-elite movement in its ranks. Judging by the repeated charges of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, one would think that the left party feels threatened by Mr. Duhaime. But that’s not really the case.
According to an internal poll conducted by another party, for those who would vote for QS, their second choice would be the PQ. The Conservatives are far behind. When QS attacks the Conservatives, it is above all a mobilization strategy. Activists love it.
Éric Duhaime is changing Quebec conservatism.
There is a little bit of social conservatism in its ranks, as evidenced by the Dr Roy Eappen, a member of his health duo, who is anti-abortion. The fact remains that the subject is above all a federal responsibility and that the PCQ itself says little about it.
The PCQ also harbors a conservative nationalist wing, as evidenced by its goal of welcoming immigrants with “civilizational compatibility.” This inapplicable idea serves to woo Quebecers who are afraid of foreigners. The fact remains that according to Léger, conservative sympathizers would be those who would vote the least according to immigration. For the economic right, identity is bla-bla.
The PCQ is defined more by its fiscal conservatism. Reducing the size of the state and enhancing the private sector are at the heart of his project.
But this description seems incomplete to me. Mr. Duhaime also embodies something else. Like Pierre Poilievre, he proposes a populist and anti-system right.
Mr. Duhaime loves to say the opposite of others. The party program advocates widening highways 20 and 40 to three and even four lanes. Billions would be swallowed up in this adventure. The opposite of fiscal conservatism.
It is less ideological than reactionary. Experts tell us how to live? We are going to show them that we are not listening to them.
The debate is no longer structured solely around arguments or ideologies. It is also explained by a clan reflex. “Us versus them”. And it’s been worse since the pandemic.
Those who mistrust the elites, those who refuse authority, those who feel forgotten or despised have found refuge with Mr. Duhaime.
This probably explains his impressive ability to attract crowds and raise money.
The fed up behind the conservative movement is undeniable, and we must try to understand it. Because left to itself, it could do damage.