Even with love, there can be a feeling of neglect
WHICH IS HOW leadership candidate Raymond Bachand explains relations between anglos and the Liberal Party
Raymond Bachand must be a romantic, because the Quebec Liberal leadership candidate was already thinking of Valentine’s Day three days in advance.
Asked in an interview with The Gazette whether what he calls the “perception” among English-speaking Quebecers that the Liberal Party has taken them for granted is justified, Bachand compared the relationship to that of a husband and wife.
“Even if you think you love her, if she thinks you’re not paying enough attention (to her), you don’t have flowers on Valentine’s Day or you’re neglecting her,” Bachand said, then she’ll feel toward her husband as anglophones do toward his party.
So maybe it’s all in our heads. Because when Bachand was asked whether there is anything the former Charest government, of which he was a prominent member, should have done differently relating to the anglophone community, he was hard pressed to come up with an answer.
“We’re not present enough in the English media as a government and ministers,” he said finally, speaking in the present tense as though the Liberals were still in power.
Bachand pointed out that the Coalition Avenir Québec has proposed to abolish the school boards, including the English ones that are the only elected bodies specifically controlled by anglophones.
But he didn’t mention that the Charest government proposed to weaken the boards until it was forced to retreat by Englishspeaking delegates at a party policy convention two years ago.
And Bachand evaded a question on a proposal by the Charest government to weaken the protection in the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms against linguistic discrimination.
The proposal, contained in a bill on access to English schools, wasn’t adopted. But the simple fact that it was presented showed that the Liberals were prepared to sacrifice the protection of linguistic minorities if necessary to appease nationalists.
And the precedent they created has made it politically easier for the current Parti Québécois government to propose similar changes to the Quebec rights charter in its own language legislation, Bill 14.
Bachand has promised if he becomes premier to give an English-speaking minister additional responsibility for relations with the anglophone community.
He has also promised to hire more anglophones for the staffs of key ministers, and to recruit more young anglophones for the civil service by creating internships.
But he would not address the chronic under-representation of anglophones in the caucus of Liberal members of the National Assembly, committing himself only to having “at least” four anglo MNAs, as at present.
Bachand said he can hold the Liberals’ habitual English-language support while reviving the party in French-speaking regions because of his past nationalist ties.
Far from trying to play down the fact that he was on the staff of PQ premier René Lévesque in the 1970s, Bachand treats it as an advantage.
And the former finance minister said his identification with the economy will allow the Liberals to fend off a challenge from the CAQ on the issue that is traditionally the Liberals’ strength — and which Bachand said will dominate the next election.
With only a month left until the leadership convention, however, Liberals appear to think that Philippe Couillard gives them the best chance of winning an early election.
In a poll last week by Léger Marketing for The Gazette and Le Devoir, Couillard held comfortable leads over Bachand among voters in general, francophones, non-francophones and supporters of the Liberal party, as well as all the other parties represented in the Assembly.
Bachand said he doesn’t believe the poll because it was conducted on the Internet instead of in traditional telephone interviews.
But what’s more important is whether the voting delegates at the Liberal leadership convention believe it.