Non-francophone Quebecers unhappy with government’s response
MONTREAL - Non-francophone Quebecers are much less satisfied than their francophone counterparts with Premier François Legault’s government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, according to results of a survey by the Association of Canadian Studies and Léger.
The survey also revealed significant differences between the two communities in other areas related to the pandemic: It found that non-francophone Quebecers are far more afraid of getting COVID-19 and considerably more supportive than francophone Quebecers of a holiday lockdown — the closing of all non-essential businesses — as a way of tackling the pandemic.
The poll was conducted Dec. 11 to 13 via online interviews by the Léger market research and analytics company and the Association for Canadian Studies. There were 359 Quebecers among the 1,528 respondents across the country — 277 francophones and 82 non-francophones; ACS president and CEO Jack Jedwab did the analysis.
The ACS, a Montreal-based research institute, and Léger have been doing regular polling since the onset of the pandemic and media attention has already focused on the differences in the level of fear between Quebec’s francophone and non-francophone communities about contracting COVID-19. The December survey shows that the gap has widened even further as fear among non-francophone Quebecers has soared, Jedwab said Sunday: 77 per cent of respondents said they are somewhat afraid or very afraid of getting COVID-19; among francophone Quebecers the figure is 49 per cent.
Quebec reported 2,146 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the second consecutive day of 2,000-plus cases.
Non-francophones are less satisfied with the way Legault’s government has handled the COVID-19 crisis during the second wave than they were during the first, Jedwab said.
“In general, the Legault government has been doing well compared with other provinces with regard to satisfaction but, as this poll reveals, non-francophones in Quebec give Legault much lower marks than do francophones as we near the end of the year,” he said.
Whereas 74 per cent of francophones said they were satisfied with measures put into place by the provincial government to fight the pandemic, only 50 per cent of non-francophones expressed satisfaction.
The federal government got high marks from nonfrancophone Quebecers — 82 per cent somewhat or very satisfied — but among francophone Quebecers, it was only 63 per cent.
For municipal or local governments, 64 per cent of francophone Quebecers were satisfied versus 51 per cent of non-francophones.
Interestingly, the survey found that those Quebecers who said they are “not at all afraid” of getting COVID-19 were also less satisfied with the provincial government’s handling of the crisis than any other group.
There is also divergence between francophones and non-francophones around the idea of a lockdown, “with non-francophones wanting us to be more vigilant,” Jedwab said. Legault last week ordered a holiday pause, with all non-essential businesses to close between Dec. 25 and Jan. 11. Non-francophones were 71 per cent in favour of a holiday lockdown, but only 57 per cent of francophones supported it.