Couillard says racism isn’t a major issue in the regions
ST-GEORGES-DE-BEAUCE He has defended immigration, but Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard said his party has no specific plan, other than to say nice things, to help immigrants battle racism and discrimination within the regions.
“The right way to do it is not to put labels on people but to talk about diversity as a positive factor in our lives and show repeatedly examples of this,” Couillard said Wednesday.
Couillard has said the province needs more, not fewer, immigrants, especially in the rural regions where there is a chronic labour shortage.
While Couillard has said his government would give priority to new arrivals who wish to settle in the regions, he has not said specifically how it would help them overcome racism and discrimination.
Some regions of the province have become world famous for their fear of Muslims, with the city of Hérouxville’s code of conduct for new arrivals adopted in 2007 among the most well known. More recently, the neighbouring town of Shawinigan rejected a request to build a mosque in the city’s industrial sector, and the mayor said a fear of Muslims was a motivating factor.
Couillard said Wednesday he doesn’t believe there is a widespread problem of racism in rural communities, adding that people in those towns see immigrants as essential to preserving the economy.
“The tone I hear across the regions of Quebec is very positive,” he said. “They know we need people to save our small and medium business. The tone has rapidly changed.
“Does discrimination exist at all levels of society? It does. We must all work together to achieve a fair Quebec.”
Couillard has rejected proposals supported by the Coalition Avenir Québec and Parti Québécois to adopt a law whereby applicants would keep their names anonymous when submitting CVs.
“This is a proposal that may look attractive, but when you look at it closer, it doesn’t do all that much because people can look at the CVs and figure out who these applicants are.”
Earlier, a candidate wishing potential voters a happy birthday got into hot water after it was revealed she used electoral lists illicitly.
Gertrude Bourdon, running for the Liberals in the Quebec City’s Jean Lesage riding in the Oct. 1 vote, confirmed to reporters that she used lists provided by Quebec’s director general of elections to find out the birthdays of her potential constituents, and wish them well.
The lists that provide the names, birthdays, addresses and genders of the people on the electoral list are only supposed to be used for electoral purposes — such as asking people if they have voted, and if they need help getting to a polling station, a spokesperson for the director general told Le Soleil.
Bourdon said she doesn’t believe she broke any rules.
“Sincerely, what I was told is that what I was doing conformed to the rules, but today I will do a triple verification,” Bourdon said. “If someone tells me that during an election campaign it doesn’t conform to the rules, then I won’t do it.”
In a classroom at Université Laval in Quebec City, Couillard unveiled his party’s plans to help students in CÉGEPs and universities on Wednesday. They include establishing experts in mental heath issues at higher learning institutions, deploying a peer-assistance program for students who may struggle financially, and launching a provincial consultation on financial compensation for students while they are undertaking stage training as part of their programs.
During that event, Couillard refused to answer questions about a report by the TVA network that Guy Ouellette, a candidate in the Chomedey riding, sent a series of embarrassing emails about his party to the CAQ in 2016. The emails talked about a link between Liberal party organizer Pietro Perrino, who was named to the upper echelons of the province’s bureaucracy, and Luigi Correti, a businessman who was once accused of fraud.
Ouellette has said he doesn’t remember sending the emails. Couillard said the candidate has his full support.