‘Bonjour-Hi’ and immigration dominate debate
Quebec’s first English leaders debate veered into emotional territory Monday when Liberal leader Philippe Couillard said François Legault’s solution to the immigration issue is to dump unwanted new arrivals on the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge leading to Ontario.
And there was a clear malaise in the room when the four party leaders were reminded of how offended the English-speaking community was over their decision to unanimously pass the Bonjour-Hi resolution in the National Assembly in November 2017.
“This incident happened,” Liberal leader Philippe Couillard said appearing anxious to not revisit the issue. “It’s behind us. Let’s move forward.
“Again, I will repeat this and I challenge my colleagues to say the same. French is the official language of Quebec. English is not a foreign language.”
But a flabbergasted Parti Québécois leader Jean-François Lisée, who was the one who proposed the original motion that was then cosponsored by Couillard’s Liberals, was quick to pounce on what he said was clear Liberal soft-pedalling of its actions to an English audience.
“Mr. Couillard is so ashamed about (what he did) that he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore,” Lisée fired across the set in the heat of the 90-minute debate organized by a consortium of English media.
Later, meeting reporters, Lisée accused Couillard of trying make anglophones believe Quebec is bilingual while telling francophones he is defending French.
“The Liberals are hypocritical,” Lisée said. “They vote Bonjour-Hi for their francophone voters and later they are ashamed and say something contrary to English voters.
“I think English-speaking Quebecers merit respect and honestly. We can disagree but let’s be respectful.”
Legault, leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec, also waded in, saying he is the one often accused of saying one thing in French and another in English.
“It’s doublespeak,” Legault told reporters, noting while Couillard likes to blast the CAQ for its plan to abolish Quebec’s school boards, the Liberals wanted to do the same thing with Bill 86.
Couillard later denied he was trying to apologize for Bonjour Hi by now calling it an incident despite the fact it made headlines for weeks. Officially, the motion adopted encouraged merchants to ditch their traditional Bonjour-Hi and replace it with just Bonjour.
“It was a significant political event,” Couillard responded in French when asked by reporters about his use of the word incident in English. “What’s the problem with referring to it as a political event or an incident?
“I remain completely convinced that the way it was phrased was good because it says we can all live together.”
It was a classic election debate, held as the campaign enters the final stretch and many voters are undecided or wavering on their initial choices.
Despite concerns the English debate would be staid because Couillard, Legault, Lisée and Manon Massé of Québec solidaire were using their second language, they threw mud at each other with as much zeal in English as they did in French at the Radio-Canada debate last week.
Lisée and Couillard were the most at ease in English but Legault held his own as did Massé who earned sympathy when she said in her view francophones need to take more time to listen to their English-speaking neighbours.
“On the street, anglophones say they want their stories to be heard,” Massé said.
And Lisée said since the days of René Lévesque the PQ has respected the rights of anglophones to run their own institutions. It was the PQ that fought off the Liberals’ Bill 86, he noted.
But the gang-up on Legault over his plans to reduce the number of immigrants and impose French and values tests on new arrivals under the threat of deportation if they fail was clear from the outset.
The feud kicked off when Couillard accused Legault of trying to deny the existence of a labour shortage in the province.
He noted even Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said the very same day there should not be any reduction.
Couillard said Legault is looking for any reason to cut the number of immigrants.
“I don’t know what problem he (Legault) has with immigrants,” Couillard said.
Legault fired back that the Liberal management of the issue has been a failure since 26 per cent of new arrivals don’t stay.
He said the Liberal line that Quebec needs workers amounts to “smoke and mirrors.”
“I asked him about the family the other day, what he would do with the father that flunked his exam, and he couldn’t answer,” Couillard responded.
“I guess you would just drop them at the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge in Hull (that connects Quebec to Ontario) and say whatever you want to get rid of these people.”
“You would have the federal government deport them,” added Lisée.
“This is just appalling. I can’t believe that someone with so little knowledge of the immigration system would make it a central plank of his platform.”
The evening opened with a key question from a voter, Adriane Windrow, who wanted to know what can be done to improve the French of young Quebecers to help them stay in Quebec.
When the debate hit the question of finances, the knives were out again with Couillard accusing Legault of failing to include in his financial plans the costs of putting all four-year-olds in kindergarten.
“By the way, you’re a doctor, I’m a chartered accountant,” Legault said. “I understand the numbers.”
“If my accountant had given me those numbers, I would have fired him,” Couillard said.
What appeared to be a rare moment of unanimity fell apart quickly after the debate.
Asked to answer a simple yes or not that they would maintain the newly created English-language secretariat if elected, all the leaders said yes.
Before reporters, however, Legault was not so committed, saying while he agreed with the objective he wants to re-examine the means to make sure it is not just a “smokescreen” by the Liberals to get anglo votes.
Ifmy accountant had given me those numbers, I would have fired him.