[lg policy] Lise Ravary: Anglos shouldn't spurn alternatives to the Liberals

[Harold Schiffman]

 Lise Ravary: Anglos shouldn't spurn alternatives to the Liberals
[image: Lise Ravary, Special to Montreal Gazette] Lise Ravary, Special to
Montreal Gazette

*Published:* September 24, 2018

*Updated:* September 24, 2018 11:45 AM PDT

*Filed Under:*

   - The Province <https://theprovince.com>
   - Opinion <https://theprovince.com/category/opinion>
   - Columnists <https://theprovince.com/category/opinion/columnists>


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[image: Coalition Avenir du Quebec Leader Francois Legault greets
candidates and supporters while campaigning Friday, September 21, 2018 in
Montreal, Que.]

Coalition Avenir du Quebec Leader Francois Legault greets candidates and
supporters while campaigning Friday, September 21, 2018 in Montreal, Que. Ryan
Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Voting en masse for one party, election after election, regardless of
circumstances, sends a message of not-belonging, of otherness.

By the time you read my next Gazette column, Quebec will have elected a new
government. I doubt that Philippe Couillard will be premier again.

He was a contender, albeit by a minuscule margin, until he assured
Quebecers that it was possible to feed a small family for $75 a week.

So weird was this remark that even the BBC and The Guardian covered it.

And unbelievably stupid.

But it won’t stop Le Bloc Anglo from voting Liberal. Nor will the ongoing
investigation by UPAC into illegal fundraising, nor the mess that is Gaétan
Barrette’s reform, including his neglect of the McGill University Health
Centre, nor cuts to educational services for children with special needs.

There must be a reason why 71 per cent of francophones were dissatisfied
with the Liberal government.

For the first time since the 1970 election campaign, the issue of Quebec
independence does not stand between anglophones and francophones. And yet,
I feel that we are farther apart than before.

Voting en masse for a party seen as kowtowing to the English-speaking
community, election after election, regardless of circumstances, sends a
message of not-belonging, of separateness, otherness.


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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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