I really enjoyed reading the reports from the PLQ General Council in Victoriaville.
Since their defeat in last October’s elections, the Liberals have stagnated at the bottom of a political black hole with around 14% of voting intentions, of which only 6% are for the Francophones.
Even if great nationalists of the caliber of Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard have succeeded each other at the top for 20 years, the French-speaking majority remains deaf to their pathetic and crazy cries for help.
Former journalist André Pratte, who chairs a committee to revitalize the PLQ, flatly dismissed an activist’s analysis of lamenting that the party had become a “provincial branch” of the Liberal Party of Canada. With a tongue-in-cheek humor that we didn’t recognize, the Justin Trudeau-appointed former senator replied, “Personally, I find there’s no evidence at all.” She’s really nice!
- Listen to Normand Lester’s chronicle QUB radio :
The nationalists of the PLQ
Michelle Setlakwe, a Quebec nationalist “passionaria” who is the surrogate of Mount-Royal, a nationalist stronghold if there ever was one, risked a sweeping appeal: “I’m a bilingual person. I want us to defend Quebec’s interests inside Canada.” Wow! We really didn’t expect that.
“Being a nationalist in the PLQ is like being a PQ in D’Arcy-McGee,” said another Liberal. But what is he doing in this party essentially devoted to defending and promoting the interests and privileges of the English-speaking minority and related groups? To me it is stupidity or hypocrisy to call yourself a nationalist and to be an activist in the PLQ. Moreover, these few dissenting voices were quickly drowned out by a chorus of passionate federalists singing an impassioned ode in defense of Canadian national unity. One Liberal even called on Quebec to leave health management to the federal government.
As activist Pierre Bouillon said from the bottom of his heart, “We are proud to be Canadian, we have to say it every day, we are a party that is resolutely Canadian.” The reality is that the PLQ is a “proudly and unreservedly Canadian “ Party is. And that’s it.
The winning combination of the PLQ
I revel in the current disarray of the Liberals, whose Federalist orthodoxy produced—by rejection—the PQ, the ADQ, and the CAQ. This divided French-speaking vote has historically enabled them to seize power by allying themselves with their Anglo-ethnic base – a conglomeration of Francophone businessmen, opportunists and schemers – where a mafia clique abounds.
Despite the Liberal fault lines set out in the public hearings and in the reports of the Charbonneau, Bastarache, and Gomery commissions, Quebec English and assimilated groups continued to vote massively for liberal “full patch” candidates, respected members of the Lascar gang denounced by the judges. The reality is that from Westmount to Saint-Léonard, from Hampstead to Pointe-Claire, we’re ready to elect the first Red man who comes along, provided he’s a pure and hard Federalist.
The PLQ is so angered by the French-speaking majority that the top candidates it recruits are demanding non-French-speaking ridings for fear of being beaten. Note that this was already the case with Trudeau Sr. in Mout-Royal.
Money, Anglophones and Allophones. It is the triple-A combination that allows the Quebec Liberal Party to exist. The trick is not to anger your clientele and sponsors while targeting the French-speaking majority. It hasn’t been working that well for a while.
This fundamental fact of the massive and unconditional support of non-Francophones for the PLQ will not change. Liberals just have to be patient: wait for immigration and demographics to do their job.
