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Quebec Elections – A Roller Coaster Ride for Constituents
3-26-2014
Quebec stands at a crossroads. On April 7th Quebeckers will head to the polls which could very well define what the future Canadian values will be. Will it be one of inclusiveness, embracing multiculturalism, or will it forever change if not destroy all what Canada is now?
The entire nation is watching this election very closely. The results will certainly redefine Canadian values forever.
Although there are much reservation, even among French speaking voters what the current Premier, Ms. Pauline Marois wishes to achieve if re-elected. After all Ms. Marois has worked tirelessly to win French voters for the past 18 months when the former liberals were ousted over alleged corruption in the allocation of civil construction and other public contracts. Quebeckers will now have to choose between the lesser of two evils.
Tolerate Liberals and address their concerns later, or forego everything, in terms of Canadian values that has been established over decades?
From what it seems thus far, hell will freeze over before Quebeckers will give Ms. Marois, the separatist Parti-Quebecois another mandate. They’ve seen enough. However, it is Quebec politics, where everything and anything is possible. Few referendums of the past, especially the one in 1990’s any indication, where separatists lost by merely one percent, blaming the Montreal’s ethnic voters for their narrow demise at the polls, Mr. Jacques Parizeau resigned.
As we stated earlier, everything is possible. When even French speaking supporters of Parti-Quebecois are wondering about voting against their own beliefs, where the party over the past few weeks have come under fire from different corners for being racists, and was forced to withdraw candidates.
The main sticking point is recently introduced bill by Parti-Quebecois, the Quebec Charter which aims to redefine the Canadian Charter, placing restrictions on ethnic minority groups, in particular, Jews, Sikhs, and Muslims from wearing religious symbols, such as Kippa, Turban, or Hijab when employed by the provincial government, which will have a devastating effect on Quebec overall, not just the ethnic minorities, as it would restrict ethnic minorities to be employed in hospital, or as judges, teachers, childcare providers, etc.
This does appeal to French voters, but French Voters also view this as a threat as many of the health care providers, especially doctors and nurses do wear visible headdress. There is already a shortage of teachers, nurses, doctors, and childcare providers. Will the Quebeckers be able to survive when key service providers decide to leave the province because of their inability to hold on to their jobs. Can Quebec afford to lose almost fifty percent of its workforce?
Parti-Quebecois candidates have been acting already as if they have won the elections. Some Jewish groups have already accused PQ for being an anti-Semitic. Louise Mailloux, one of the PQ Candidates “discovered to have supported a fringe conspiracy theory holding that Jews use kosher food to fund clandestine political causes, Quebec Premier Pauline Marois publicly declared Friday that her party is not anti-Semitic,” reported National Post. “Ms. Marois stood by Louise Mailloux, and told reporters “the Parti Québécois is not an anti-Semitic party.”
Then there was PQ Leader, Ms. Marois herself stated, “Radical Islam is ‘a risk,’ Marois says in radio interview,” read Montreal Gazzette’s headline. She claimed she was responding to a CROP poll, “I have not seen the poll, but don’t think we should exaggerate this phenomenon. However, there is a risk of infiltration which we have seen.”
Then on March 13, “A Parti Quebecois candidate pulled out of the provincial election campaign Thursday after posting a graphically worded anti-Islamic message on his Facebook page. Jean Carriere stepped aside after the photo started to make the rounds on social media Wednesday,” reported Canadian Press.
Despite all the tabulations and tumult, PQ campaign machine is moving full speed and finding support among the corners least perceived, among Arab Muslim Women candidates. After all, we are talking about Quebec politics.
“The Parti Québécois unveiled a slate of minority female candidates that it hopes will send a strong message to voters that leaders in the Arab community and other ethnic groups are willing to support its controversial secular charter proposal.” Noted Canada’s national newspaper, Globe and Mail, “PQ Leader Pauline Marois was beaming Friday as she presented three candidates of Maghreb descent who gave their unequivocal support to the charter. The charter of Quebec values bill tabled last November has sparked a divisive debate, especially over the proposal to ban public servants from wearing overt religious symbols, such as the hijab, kippa or crucifix.”
Leila Mahiout, originally from Algeria, considered a prominent figure in Quebec Arab Community, vice-president of festival du monde Arabe, Evelyne Abitbol, former press secretary of founder of Bloc-Quebecois, Mr, Lucien Bouchard, and finally, Djemila Benhabib, also of an Algerian decent, considered to win her riding in Laval, where Arab presence is very obvious.
Ms. Evelyne Abitbol, told Globe and Mail, “It is the debate over the secular charter that convinced me to run,” Ms. Abitbol said. “Whereby elsewhere in the world people face violence in their fight for a secular state, we cannot afford to step backward in Quebec.”
The question is despite all the controversies surrounding PQ and its leaders, and based on their Past history of separation referendums, Bill 101, now the “Quebec Charter” the party has managed to attract candidates where least expected while getting scorched by the media and intellectuals. It is truly up to the Quebec Voters to ensure the party is defeated at the polls, otherwise Canadians may very well wake up to a very dangerous reality come April 8th. Lets us all hope and pray – NOT!
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