Populist party win rocks Canadian politics
THE provincial district of Gatineau in Quebec, just across the river from Ottawa, has for decades been a stronghold of Justin Trudeau’s sister party. But last Monday a little-known upstart populist movement made an election gain that has thrown a grenade into the Canadian political system.
The Coalition Avenir Quebec (coalition for the future of Quebec, CAQ) swept up the seat as it was elected ruling party of Quebec, jolting the liberal established order that has existed in the Canadian province for nearly half a century, and prompting soul-searching among dejected rivals.
The election marked the first time a populist party has come to power in North America, with immigration pushed to the fore in Quebec.
“With CAQ, people have a new option,” said Alexis Goudreau, 29 a former assistant to a separatist Bloc Quebecois MP, who was part of a group that formed the CAQ seven years ago.
His party’s leader, Francois Legault, a 61-year-old accountant and former airline executive, will be sworn in as the premier of Quebec in the next few weeks. Both the leaders of the ruling Quebec Liberal Party — a sister party to prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party — and the opposition Parti Quebecois (PQ) resigned last week, with the separatist PQ gaining so few votes it is no longer eligible to be officially recognised as a party.
Mr Legault was elected on a platform to reduce immigration and distance himself from the liberalism of Mr Trudeau in the capital Ottawa.
He has promised to cut immigrants by 10,000 a year, reducing it to 40,000 people. Those who come must pass a “Quebec values test”, and speak French within three years — otherwise their residency will be revoked. A new “secularism charter” will ban public employees wearing religious symbols such as hijabs, crucifixes and skull caps.
It is a sharp rebuke to the policies of the prime minister, who, despite his accolades abroad, has found the gloss has worn off at home. The discontent spilled out into the open in June, with the election in Ontario — Canada’s most populous province — of Doug Ford, a right-wing populist.
Next year Mr Trudeau faces a tough battle for re-election, with his disapproval rating at 49.1pc, according to CBC’s poll tracker. His rival, Conservative Andrew Scheer, has a disapproval rating of 29.3pc.
The Quebec election marks the first time the issue of independence was effectively off the table — none of the parties had pledged to provide a third vote on separating from the rest of Canada. That freed up Quebecois to focus on other issues — such as the “fear” people have regarding an influx of illegal border-crossings, particularly Haitians coming into Quebec from the US.