Legault reassures anglos as poll points to CAQ win
No referendum on sovereignty, he tells radio audience
Describing himself as a businessman who puts “Quebec first, but within Canada,” Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault reached out on Thursday to a radio audience that includes a large block of longtime Liberal voters — anglophones.
Conducted five days after a new poll suggests the CAQ would win a majority government, Legault — once a Parti Québécois cabinet minister — quickly addressed concerns a CAQ government might eventually adopt the sovereignist ideals espoused by his former party.
“I want to be very clear — never, never will a CAQ government hold a referendum on sovereignty,” he told host Leslie Roberts on CJAD.
“For me, the sovereignty of Quebec was a means. What I’ve wanted since I was young was to have a richer Quebec, to have a Quebec that succeeds internationally, and I thought at the time that if we had 100 per cent of the tools, it would be better.
“But I realized a few years ago that (separation) is not necessary and it’s urgent that we take the right steps in order for Quebec to be richer.”
Legault said that despite Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard’s assertion that he remains a sovereignist, he is in fact “a nationalist.”
“For me, it’s Quebec first. For me, it’s more important that if we create jobs, that we do so in Montreal than we do so in Toronto,” he added.
“It’s Quebec first, but within Canada.”
Legault acknowledged more should be done to employ anglophones in the Quebec civil service, but he dismissed the Liberals’ creation of a secretariat for Englishspeaking Quebecers as a “marketing decision” unlikely to produce concrete results.
However, while acknowledging more anglophone representation was needed in government, Legault was less definitive when it came to explaining what a CAQ government would do differently, saying that “all communities” should be represented in the civil service.
The CAQ leader defended his decision to vote in favour of a controversial motion that saw the National Assembly unanimously call for “bonjour” to be used rather than “bonjour-hi,” saying that “French will always be vulnerable in Quebec.”
“That’s why we have Bill 101,” he said, referring to Quebec’s French Language Charter. “Forcing people to go to French school is something pretty tough, but I think it’s necessary.”