MONTREAL -- An alleged spike in voter registration has some sovereignists alleging that something may be remiss, following a report Saturday in the Le Devoir newspaper.
The article cites Mathieu Vandal, a former electoral officer in a downtown Montreal riding, who said that many English-speakers and others whose first language is neither English nor French have recently tried to register to vote.
The article did not, however, support the claim through any statistical evidence.
Vandal resigned from his post on Friday, according to Le Devoir.
"It's as if (Montreal's) Trudeau International Airport was wide open and we distributed free visas to anyone who came through, without question," Mathieu Vandal, the president of local electoral office in Montreal's Sainte-Marie-Saint-Jacques, told Le Devoir.
The downtown riding is 75 per cent first-language French but is also home to a large number of university students.
Vandal said that about half of those trying to register since last Monday were anglophone or allophone.
Denis Dion of the Quebec's Director General of Elections told the Canadian Press that the new registrations were probably legit.
“It seems to be a series of spontaneous initiatives. There are probably some campaign issues that are inspiring people to get involved in the political debate and exercise their right to vote,” he said.
The PQ called a press conference for Sunday morning in which Nicole Léger et Léo Bureau-Blouin will discuss the issue.
The PQ's proposed charter of values has faced considerable opposition among some anglophones and allophones in Montreal, leading to a possible increase in voter interest in that demographic.
Complaints from students
In contrast, allegations surfaced earlier in the week that Quebec-based students from elsewhere in Canada were unable to register in the April 7 election.
Dune Desormeaux, a fourth-year student at McGill who is originally from British Columbia, said Saturday that he was turned away when he tried to register.
The 21-year-old said he brought the necessary identification but was told he couldn't vote because he was a student.
"I had anticipated having no problems," he said in an interview.
"I brought the documents requested -- my picture ID and a proof of address. And basically I was told, after a reasonably long discussion, that I would not be eligible to vote because I was not domiciled in Quebec as they said."
According to the website of Quebec's electoral office, to be eligible to vote a person must be a Canadian citizen and have lived in Quebec for six months.
They must also have the intention of making Quebec their "principal establishment," according to the Quebec civil code.
Since moving to the province, Desormeaux said he has only returned to British Columbia for a few weeks a year.
-With a file from The Canadian Press
