Interview with Lionel Perez

Radio-Canada interviews Lionel Perez but signals with its headline that city hall opposition is still trying to find a role. Perez claims that his party acts as a watchdog, nipping at everything Projet does (true) and that it proposes constructive ideas and solutions (not so true, at least from my observation post).

Perez says he finds Projet dogmatic, claiming that it “governs for its base” rather than for the people, a condemnation of democracy in action: if the majority of Montrealers who were engaged enough to get out and vote chose Projet, it’s not reasonable to claim Projet’s “base” is something other than the majority of people who voted. Maybe Perez feels he’s acting for the silent majority who couldn’t even be bothered to vote, but if so, that’s a political dead end: they won’t vote for Ensemble next time either because they don’t vote.

Perez may be trying for a muted version of populism: by suggesting that Projet is elite while he speaks for the people, he’s echoing the tone taken by shriller politicians around the world. In the arena of Montreal municipal politics this won’t work. If it’s framed as elite merely to vote in an election, your party can’t win by playing to the non-voting electorate.