Plante puts good face on election result
Mayor Plante is trying to put a good face on the city’s rejection of the CAQ. We had two CAQ MNAs before the election, and we have two CAQ MNAs now. Not much will change in the CAQ’s view of Montreal.
Plante is a practical woman and knows there’s no benefit to the city in flaunting an adverse position to the CAQ, even when her personal and her party philosophy run counter to François Legault’s on most points. So she’s doing her best to make peace.
La Presse’s Philippe Mercure makes a plea to Legault not to forget Montreal, giving him a short list of issues needing attention.
Kevin 10:00 on 2022-10-05 Permalink
Legault ran an anti-Montreal campaign.
There are multiple columns in the Journal today pointing out that Montrealers are the enemies of the true people of Quebec.
So yes, things will change. They’ll get a lot worse.
mare 10:57 on 2022-10-05 Permalink
Since a lot of issues in Montreal (and not only funding) are under control of the provincial government, a mayor who isn’t pragmatic would be a terrible thing. I hope she’ll also sometimes fights the fight though.
Things *will* change, and probably not in a positive direction. It will also get worse in the rest of Quebec, for example the effects of climate change will actually be more profound there, but at least they can blame Montreal for those. And immigrants.
steph 11:31 on 2022-10-05 Permalink
at least we’ll drown, burn and freeze in french…
John B 11:48 on 2022-10-05 Permalink
I know it’s not Montreal, but I guess the 3e lien is happening then? It looks like it’ll cost as much as the entire REM.
Imagine all the bike lanes, or community gardens, or trains, or Pink Lines, or social housing that we could get for that money.
Ian 12:55 on 2022-10-05 Permalink
Well Val can talk a good game, but she’s from Rouyn-Noranda. Legault knows the deal. Of course Legault hates Montreal, especially Montreal Anglos. He is from Ste Anne. His Mom still lives there, there is even a Rue Legault, but no CAQ candidate will be elected in Ste Anne, ever. And he knows, and resents it deeply.
“Despite his business background, there has always been a harsh nationalist streak to Legault’s politics. At his very first political speech, when he was nominated as a star PQ candidate in 1998, he told his riding association members that he had been raised in Montreal’s West Island among the English, “and I hate them as much as you do.” ”
Graham Fraser, “The Quebec Election Primer”, Policy Magazine, Aug. 15, 2018
carswell 13:36 on 2022-10-05 Permalink
Workable link (I hope): “The Quebec Election Primer”, Policy Magazine
Kate 14:33 on 2022-10-05 Permalink
Maurice Duplessis was first elected as Premier in 1936. As Wikipedia says, “The 1936 election broke the dominance of the Quebec Liberal Party it held uninterruptedly for almost 40 years.” Duplessis was premier from 1936 to 1939, then from 1944 till his death in 1959. Most of Quebec was in slavish agreement with Duplessis and his Union Nationale party for those 15 long years, over four elections, till suddenly – they weren’t any more.
But it took that long for his spell to wear off.
I noticed while looking this up that a guy we seldom hear about, Adélard Godbout, was premier for most of World War II, elected in November 1939 and serving till August 1944. Notably, women were finally given the vote during his term, despite resistance from Duplessis and the Catholic Church, and Godbout made the first steps toward the creation of Hydro-Quebec with the nationalization of Montreal Light, Heat and Power.
And get this: “In the 1944 provincial election, Godbout’s Liberals and Duplessis’ Union Nationale received similar shares of the popular vote, the Liberals getting slightly more votes but the UN enjoying a level of support in the province’s rural areas that was strong enough to win a majority of seats to the legislature and thus form the government. During the 1944 election, Duplessis claimed in a very anti-Semitic speech that Godbout had together with the Dominion government agreed to take in 100,000 Jewish refugees and settle them in Quebec after the war in exchange for which the “International Zionist Brotherhood” was funding his reelection campaign. Duplessis claimed that he would never take money from the Jews, and if were elected Premier again, he would stop this alleged plan to settle 100,000 Jewish refugees in Quebec. Through this story was entirely false, it was widely believed, sparking such a surge of antisemitism to allow the Union Nationale to win.”
Ian 17:53 on 2022-10-05 Permalink
Thank you, carswell. That is indeed the link I intended.
@Kate this among other things is why we don’t have anything named after Duplessis nor anyone advocating for it. At least Legault still feels the need to dogwhistle or sometime “mis-speak”.
qatzelok 20:53 on 2022-10-05 Permalink
@Ian’s quoted article: “Despite his business background…hates anglos.”
The implication here is that people with MBAs and Finance degrees love anglos. Is this true? Are these really related?
Ian 20:57 on 2022-10-05 Permalink
I guess it depends whether you believe in “money and the ethnic vote”. I’m pretty sure since that Overton window got opened nobody courting the ethnonationalist vote ever intends to shut it again.
Kevin 22:09 on 2022-10-05 Permalink
I read that with implication that nationalists care more about control than about anything else.
Kate 11:32 on 2022-10-06 Permalink
I think the implication is that if you put business first, you have to accept that English is a fact of life in business circles. Whereas, if you put nationalism and the future of French first, you have to accept that in some cases that means you, your business, and in some cases the people of Quebec, will need to accept some economic limitations and privations.
dhomas 16:43 on 2022-10-06 Permalink
@Ian: I take this road every weekday:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/fjXELxRpc4S9h8q66
Ian 09:40 on 2022-10-07 Permalink
I stand corrected. Ewww.