Missed chance to focus on jobs

Re: “PQ youth back the boss, reject hard-line policies” (Montreal Gazette, Feb. 20)

As an erstwhile pollster, I have conducted innumerable surveys for companies seeking to know what drives consumers’ choice, and determining where there are unmet needs. Donald Trump succeeded in doing this by identifying that Americans want jobs — a strategy that won him the industrial heartland and ultimately the presidency.

Quebecers also want jobs. The province has a moribund economy no thanks to language and separation debates, and the highest unemployment in Canada excluding the Atlantic Provinces and territories.

And yet, the Parti Québécois youth and Jean-François Lisée continue to debate issues like religious symbols, language and separation that are absolutely not what drive choice of party in today’s Quebec. Clearly they are missing a huge opportunity to reposition the party and give Quebecers what they actually want. Instead they focus on issues that have been rejected in referendums, and in the last election. Alan Mew, Baie-d’Urfé