He will likely deal incapacitating blows to two parties that have long dominated the province’s politics — the Quebec Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois — the latter of which could be reduced to a single seat. Call it the new politics of soft nationalism in Quebec: rather than separating from Canada, Quebec politicians now seek to separate “us” from “them,” and make the election for “nous,” and not “vous autres.”The “other” in this case are the province’s cultural minorities, particularly immigrants or first generation Quebecois. In another case, a commercial depicted the English language spreading across Quebec like a virus emanating from Montreal. Both of these laws have been widely condemned for their inherent bias against the province’s minorities. As such, the Quebec Liberal Party’s traditional support base of Quebec federalists, Anglophones, cultural minorities and Montrealers is being eaten away by competitors from no less than six other parties.

Source: thestar September 11, 2022 07:24 UTC