Quebec's two new English-language parties are "extreme," and the province's Conservative party and Quebec Solidaire (QS) are "radical," according to opponents at the National Assembly.
The Quebec Liberal Party and the Parti Quebecois (PQ), two traditional parties that have been on the Quebec political scene since the 1970s, accused newer parties on Tuesday of stirring up polarization.
In a media scrum Wednesday morning at the National Assembly, Liberal leader Dominique Anglade was asked to comment on the arrival of the Quebec Canadian Party and Mouvement Quebec, two parties that are courting the anglophone electorate, traditionally loyal to the Liberals.
These movements, which are not yet officially recognized as parties by the Chief Electoral Officer, challenge Bill 101 and French as the official language of Quebec.
"It's certainly extreme, this kind of position," said Anglade, while declaring herself "very confident" that her party will be able to represent the concerns of Quebecers.
Asked to comment, PQ MNA Pascal Berube instead attacked the Quebec Conservative Party and QS.
"It's not extreme, it's radicalism," he said. According to him, these two parties are radical and are "the flip side of the same coin."
But Quebecers do not entrust power to radicals, he continued.
On his Twitter account, Conservative leader Eric Duhaime accused the PQ and Berube of having supported the Legault government's "health extremism" for two years.
In a media scrum, the only Conservative MNA, Claire Samson, said she did not recognize herself at all under the label of radical.
She said that if some Conservative candidates in the next election embrace more marginal positions, such as being against abortion, they will "fall in line" as soon as the Conservatives take a pro-choice position.
This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press on April 27, 2022.
