Recently it was announced that Premier Legault of the CAQ and the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon would not participate in an English debate that the province’s English media debate consortium attempted to organize.

While the leaders of the Liberal Party of Quebec, Québec Solidaire and the Conservative Party of Quebec all said . . .

they would participate without the CAQ and Parti Québécois, the debate has since been canceled.

Legault explained his refusal to debate in English by stating that French is the common language of the province, and said that he will make an effort to answer all questions posed to him by anglophones.

Pontiac MNA André Fortin said the premier’s decision was an insult to English Quebecers.

“It sends a message that the premier does not care about their vote, their community or sharing his ideas about the future of Quebec, ‘’ said Fortin.

There are two debates before the vote planned as of now, both of which will be in French.

In other news, two new provincial parties that say they will field candidates in-opposition to Bill 96 and Bill 21 have been formed. The first is The Canadian Party of Quebec, which describes its mission as a federalist party which will focus on minority and anglophone rights.

The second party is Movement Québec, which was built around former third place Montreal mayoral candidate Balarama Holness.

Both parties are highly critical of the response from Liberal Party of Quebec to the degradation of minority and anglophone rights in Quebec.

It is not clear whether either party will field candidates in the Pontiac.

In the coming months THE EQUITY will reach out to both new parties as well as all established parties to hear their plans for the region.

As of now the poll aggregator at 338 Canada projects another CAQ majority government with an average of 42 per cent of likely voter support. However, these are just polls, and the election is still months away, so this is subject to change.

Register or subscribe to read this content

Thanks for stopping by! This article is available to readers who have created a free account or who subscribe to The Equity.

When you register for free with your email, you get access to a limited number of stories at no cost. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access to everything we publish—and directly support quality local journalism here in the Pontiac.

Register or Subscribe Today!