A new provincial political party officially entered the ring Monday with the launch of the Canadian Party of Quebec (CaPQ), whose leader says it will give Quebecers a federalist option while promoting bilingualism.
Colin Standish said he’s offering Quebecers a progressive option for the fall election. His party's main focus: abolishing Quebec’s secularism law, known as Bill 21, and its latest language reforms under Bill 96.
When asked whether he would also repeal Bill 101, Standish wouldn’t answer. But he said his party believes Quebecers should be able to choose what language they go to school in
"We are for the promotion of the French language in constructive ways, we are against prohibiting other languages in coercive ways," Standish said Monday.
He's hoping to run a full slate of candidates in the next election, although so far, the party only has a dozen lined up.
"We are meeting with numerous Quebecers, we have a very elaborate vetting process," he added.
The Canadian Party of Quebec is the latest party going after disgruntled liberal voters, along with formal Montreal mayoral candidate Balarama Holness' Bloc Montreal.
But political analyst David Heurtel questions whether there's an appetite for this type of politics and he points to Holness’ failed bid to become the mayor of Montreal.
"He tried something on the municipal front, said big things about turning Montreal bilingual but at the end of the day he barely got 7 per cent of the vote," Heurtel said.
According to Heurtel, Quebecers would favour bills 96 and 21 be improved rather than repealed and said he believes Standish's policies risk backfiring.
"It plays into the hands of the CAQ because then they can point and say, 'See, here’s the extremes again talking about not protecting French and not regulating religious symbols,'" Heurtel said.
But that doesn’t mean it’s a lost cause for the new parties.
The latest polls show the Liberals continuing to fade, even in traditional strongholds on the Island of Montreal
Analysts like Heurtel say with vote-splitting, anything can happen in October.
