My Dear Anglo Friends
My Dear Anglo Friends,
Elections are coming. Soon. Rumours converge on an electoral campaign kick-off on the 1st of August, which means this province will vote and choose its future government on Septembre 4th.
Now I know quite well, understand and appreciate that most of you aren’t thrilled by separatists, or sovereignty, or any other project that involves the independance of Quebec in any form. So we’re not going to talk about that right now. In any case, it’s a complete non-issue: no major party is campaigning on this topic, not even the PQ (and let’s be honest here, there’s no way we can call Option Nationale or Québec Solidaire major parties).
But I’ll talk about issues that I hope you care about: the horrendous stade of our health care system. The even-more dismal conditions of roads and infrastructures. The outright complacency and lack of ethics of university administrators, whose pay and severance packages have increased at an undecent rate in past years. The rising cost of energy, even hydro-electricity, while natural resources (including potential finds of gas and oil) are being handed over for a pittance to the private sector. All these issues have nothing to do with the separatist debate.
Or wait, maybe they do.
Maybe it hangs around one single, hard piece of evidence. Since the rise of the PQ, all of you, my dear Anglo friends, have rallied massively and joined forces with the Liberals. And honestly, there are quite a few of you. Which means that in any election, the PLQ can count on a steady electoral base of 20% of voters, no matter what they do or say or promise. No matter what. Because there is no way you’re going to trust the other guys (or girls, as it turns out) enough that you’ll vote for them.
Fair enough; but by now you’re taken for granted. No party, not even the liberals, is even bothering to court the anglo vote. As we’ve witnessed in recent years, this situation has opened the door to all kind of abuses. We’ve stopped counting how many liberal ministers were forced to resign after conflicts of interest were unveiled, how many political organizers were arrested on charges of corruption.
This just can’t go on. The PLQ has to be removed from it’s noxious position of power and abuse.
My dear Anglo friends, this is an election, not a referendum. Your choice on Septembre 4th is about the day-to-day running of a province, not a choice between countries. So why not do things differently this time? Drop the liberals. If you lean on the center or center-left side of the political spectrum, vote for the PQ. Edit: if you hate the PQ with all your guts, then go for the Greens. If you’d rather go for the center-right, vote CAQ. And if you’re an all-out leftist, well go and vote for Québec Solidaire, why not? Yes, there is the annoying possibility of a referendum; but then you are also free to vote « No » again (and frankly I’ll side with you on that one).
But please! don’t vote for the Liberals. This province has seen enough corruption as it is in the past 9 years. It’s cost us more than any referendum ever will. It’s time for a change. We all deserve better.
Patrick Levesque
Auteur
95 articles publiésBlogueur au parcours professionnel et académique varié ayant couvert (à ce jour) les sciences, la musique, l’histoire, l’administration et la finance. Il va de soit que tous ces domaines alimentent ma réflexion sur les différents sujets qui seront couverts ici.
Mes billets seront également des occasions d’expérimenter avec différentes idées et ce, que ce soit au niveau culturel, philosophique, économique, politique, etc. Le tout sans trop se prendre au sérieux, évidemment.
