A CAMPAIGN BEGINS
Yes, it’s almost time: Quebec’s election campaign officially begins Thursday, and it won’t be long before lamp standards are laden with candidates’ posters. Of course, Oct. 1, voting day, still seems a long way off to most of us. It’s probably a safe bet that many Quebecers won’t really start paying attention to the campaign until after Labour Day — though the Liberals’ decision to dump popular long-time Marquette MNA François Ouimet for a “new face” certainly attracted notice, and not in a good way.
Still, it’s never too soon to start weighing the options.
As has been widely noted, this campaign will be the first in decades where the issue of Quebec independence is not expected to play any significant role, given that the Parti Québécois has promised not to hold a referendum in a first mandate. Federalists no longer will feel forced to support the Quebec Liberals. All the more reason for citizens to take a close look at what each of the parties has on offer.
Coalition Avenir Québec has a significant lead in the polls going into the campaign. But who knows what banana peels might be slipped on, what fist pumps might change the course of the campaign between now and the time voters mark their ballots? Certainly, being the frontrunner puts the CAQ and its platform in the spotlight, and will give voters a chance to assess what sort of change a CAQ government would bring, and whether it is the kind of change they would welcome.
For their part, the Quebec Liberals have their record to run on, a double-edged sword.
Issues that seem likely to figure prominently in the campaign include health care, laïcisme (secularlism), the rights of religious minorities, immigration, education and, since the PQ would extend the application of Bill 101, language. Will Quebec’s current strong economy be taken for granted? Perhaps.
This year, for the first time, English-speaking voters can look forward to a televised Englishlanguage debate on Sept. 17, of which the Montreal Gazette is a co-sponsor. Many Englishspeaking voters will also be following the two French-language debates planned for Sept. 13 and Sept. 20. But a debate in English is far from redundant; it is an occasion to raise matters of particular concern to the English-speaking community.
In the debates and on the hustings, it is to be hoped that civil discourse will prevail. Tough questions are fair. Mudslinging and namecalling are not. In the journey that is about to begin, it’s up to each candidate to put his or her best foot forward.