With half a year to go until Quebec’s provincial election, tensions between the province’s major parties are at a boil.
With the Coalition Avenir Quebec leading in most polls, the Liberals took close aim at CAQ leader Francois Legault, leading to Legault accusing them of mudslinging.
“One thing I will never accept is the dirty little politics of Philippe Couillard,” said Legault.
The sniping started when Finance Minister Carlos Leitao said the CAQ promoted “ethnic-based nationalism,” which Legault’s party said was a veiled accusation of racism.
“The people are used to Liberal lies, but now all those lies are against our party,” said Legault. “So, we’re going to be there just to put the record straight.”
This week, CAQ MNA Nathalie Roy wrote an op-ed piece for The Montreal Gazette, arguing the CAQ is not anti-immigrant. Two days later, Immigration Minister David Heurtel struck back, focusing on Legault’s proposal that new immigrants must pass a test on Quebec values.
“The test will kick people out, he has said it,” said Heurtel. “The values test, if you fail it, you’re kicked out.”
Quebec Solidaire has not stayed away from the fray. Both QS and the CAQ are hoping to swipe disaffected Liberal voters away in the coming election but QS spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois had harsh words for Legault’s test as well.
“That says there are two types of Quebecers, real Quebecers and false Quebecers and we should do a test to find who is a true and who isn’t a true Quebecer,” he said. “That’s the main problem.”
Even the Parti Quebecois, trailing in third in the polls and having proposed its own Charter of Values when it was in power in 2013, is asking Legault for more information.
“You know, you’re a party that wants to govern Quebec in October and you’re making this an important issue and you have no document to show us,” said PQ leader Jean-Francois Lisee.
Legault has said it will make the full test public if it wins the election on Oct. 1.
