Identity politics rears ugly head at National Assembly
As election looms, Liberals, CAQ clash over ‘ethnic nationalism’
QUEBEC Setting the stage for a rough-and-tumble election, identity politics roared back to life Thursday with accusations of intolerance flying in the wake of a Liberal minister’s charge that the Coalition Avenir Québec is preaching ethnic nationalism.
But at the same time as denying he or his party is in any way racist, CAQ leader François Legault unabashedly cranked up his own defence of the party’s controversial standing policies saying plenty of countries in the world impose language and values tests on new arrivals.
“Germany, Austria, Denmark, France and the Netherlands,” Legault said in a short interview with the Montreal Gazette.
“They have values tests, they have language tests. We aren’t inventing anything.”
Legault had just emerged from a TVA network interview in which he defended the CAQ platform.
Legault also did a few radio interviews on the same theme and posted a video on his Facebook page in which he says the world is a dangerous place and Quebec has to protect itself.
“We must defend our values. We must be sure about people who preach violence or preach against our values,” he says in the video. “We have to take precautions.
“All the countries do it and we would be the only one who, with (Premier) Philippe Couillard and (Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau, would not protect our values? Come on.
“I am proud of the kind of society that my ancestors left us.
“I think we have a duty to protect it.”
Ironically, the spark for Legault to raise the identity issue — which consistently helped the CAQ in the 2014 election campaign — came from the Liberal side of the legislature in the form of comments made by Finance Minister Carlos Leitão in an interview with the West Island edition of the Montreal Gazette published Wednesday.
Pulling no punches, Leitão — who is an immigrant himself and prides himself on his defence of minorities — rips the CAQ, urging minorities to carefully examine what the party stands for and what it says on a daily basis before jumping ship.
“The kind of nationalism the CAQ proposes is, in my opinion, an ethnic-based nationalism,” Leitão said. “I’m not afraid of the words. This is what it is. They view the French majority as being under attack from all foreigners out there.”
His comments were made March 7, a day after Leitão attended a rare meeting with representatives of the English-speaking community as part of his pre-budget consultations. That meeting in itself was described as historic.
Leitão, who was born in Peniche, Portugal, and learned his French in Quebec, has refused Legault’s call to apologize.
Heading into question period Thursday, Leitão was giving no quarter to the enemy either.
“I said what I had to say,” Leitão told reporters. “I have not changed my mind.”
Sources nevertheless said the minister was shaken by the turn of events in the political cauldron that is the National Assembly. Leitão is in the midst of preparing the province’s annual budget, which will be tabled on March 27. The budget is critical to the party’s attempt to rebrand itself.
Inside the Liberal morning caucus, emotions were running high, sources said, and the Liberals circled the wagons around Leitão — girding for daily question period, where the CAQ waited with knives drawn.
Nobody on the Liberal side has repeated the politically charged line about ethnic nationalism. They don’t have to. In fact, privately Liberal insiders are pleased.
Minus the sovereignty-federalism question to count on to polarize the vote, the incident helps the Liberal efforts to brand the CAQ as a frightening and risky option in the minds of voters — particularly minorities who may have been flirting with the idea of leaving the Liberal ark.
On Wednesday, Legault downplayed an article in Le Devoir that said the CAQ has written off the idea of getting much support from the English-speaking community.
“I’m still confident that we’ll get some support from anglophones,” Legault said.
But behind the scenes at the legislature Thursday, the CAQ did its best to keep the story alive for its own partisan reasons.
Before question period, the party negotiated the support of the Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire for a motion asking the legislature to state that no political party in the National Assembly advocates ethnic nationalism. The motion failed because the Liberals refused consent.
Leading the charge in question period was CAQ house leader François Bonnardel, who again demanded Leitão apologize.
“Do you have the courage to stand up here and repeat in French what you said in English?” Bonnardel fired across the floor. “Let him repeat it or retract.”
Leitão didn’t budge from his seat and the Liberals sent Immigration Minister David Heurtel in to bat in his place.
Heurtel rapidly homed in on the part of the CAQ program that stipulates immigrants would need to pass French tests in a CAQ -administered
Quebec or be sent home.
“The CAQ wants to expel newly arrived immigrants based on a values test we have never seen,” Heurtel said as the legislature erupted in chaos and shouting. “Why doesn’t the CAQ table this ejection test?
“What is your test? Who is a Quebecer for you? What does it take to be good enough? What’s a pass on your test? Is it six out of 10, seven out of 10?”
Later, Heurtel said he and many Liberals including Leitão got into politics to fight exclusion and the ideas contained in the ill-fated Charter of Values drafted by the former PQ government, so they will certainly not back down from a fight with the CAQ.
Legault “is clearly trying to stir up divisions in Quebecers,” Heutrel told reporters. “These attempts at division, exclusion, trying to pit Quebecers one against the other — this is unacceptable in society.”
“I know Mr. Leitão,” added Education Minister Sébastien Proulx. “I know what his reasons are for getting into politics. I know what motivates him. I know he considers important that people like him assume their place in our society, that today he is minister of finance.”
Legault was not backing down either.
“I can’t let this slide,” Legault said in his interview with the Montreal Gazette. “I have no choice but to react. I can’t accept that my party be tagged ethnic nationalist.
“All Philippe Couillard has to do is ask Carlos Leitão to apologize and withdraw his remarks and I will stop talking about this. But even Mr. Heurtel laid it on. Nobody is apologizing.”