The Canadian Political Science Review Vol. 9, No. 2, 2015 Pp. 112-120
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The Canadian Political Science Review Vol. 9, No. 2, 2015 pp. 112-120 The 2014 Provincial Election in Quebec Éric Bélanger and Eva Falk Pedersen Department of Political Science McGill University [email protected] and [email protected] Abstract After having been in power for just a little over a year and a half, the Parti Québécois government led by Pauline Marois decided to call an early election in the hope of getting the majority of seats that had evaded them the last time around. That bet was lost as the 2014 election campaign resulted in the worst showing for the PQ since 1973. The inter- election period was dominated by the debate over the PQ’s proposed Charter of Quebec Values. The Charter also influenced the debate during the campaign, as did the issue of Quebec’s sovereignty due in part to the arrival of Pierre Karl Péladeau as a star candidate for the PQ. The Liberal Party of Quebec is now back in government with a majority of seats and under the leadership of Philippe Couillard. 112 The Canadian Political Science Review Vol. 9, No. 2, 2015 pp. 112-120 Introduction “valeurs québécoises” by the immigrant population – and, hence, the protection After less than two years spent on the and promotion of those values. The official opposition benches of Quebec’s proposed Charter had several provisions, National Assembly, the Liberal Party of including enshrining the values of Quebec (PLQ) was back in government secularism in the Quebec Charter of with a majority of seats and under the Human Rights and Freedoms (Charte leadership of Philippe Couillard des droits et libertés de la personne), following the provincial election of April indicating that the gender equality 7th 2014. That election’s result provisions of the Charter of Human represented the worst vote share of the Rights and Freedoms should be incumbent Parti Québécois’ history since interpreted within a secular framework, 1973. The previous 2012 election had outlining a framework for how the been groundbreaking since it was the government would respond to requests first time in Quebec’s history that a for religious accommodation, and woman was elected as Premier. Yet, the obliging those seeking public services to 2014 election is also historic not only present themselves with their face due to the PQ’s demise but also because uncovered (Assemblée nationale du that same woman, Pauline Marois, has Québec 2013). been defeated in her own riding (Charlevoix-Côte-de-Beaupré) after just However, much of the attention focused a short reign of 19 months. on the provision to ban “ostentatious religious symbols” (signes religieux That short period in power was ostentatoires) in public employment. dominated by the debate surrounding a The proposed ban on the wearing of controversial piece of legislation that religious symbols by all public encapsulated the Marois government’s employees was indeed the object of most willingness to tackle the issue of of the criticisms aimed at the Charter. secularism in the province’s public First, defining what is ostentatious institutions. Bernard Drainville, the triggered a fair amount of op-eds, Minister responsible for Democratic editorials, and news articles. Second, the Institutions and Active Citizenship, PQ had already decided that the crucifix made this policy proposal public on on the wall of the National Assembly in September 10, 2013 under the name of Quebec would be there to stay because it “Charter of Quebec Values.”1 The was part of Quebec’s cultural heritage. legislation aimed at reinforcing the Third, many actors considered the secular nature of Quebec society and at provision to be unconstitutional as it was facilitating the adoption of the so-called seen to be an attack on the individuals’ freedom to express their religious 1 The actual legislation, Bill 60, “Charter beliefs. In good part for this reason, both affirming the values of State secularism and the Liberals and Québec Solidaire (QS) religious neutrality and of equality between were strongly against the Charter women and men, and providing a framework for project; for its part, the Coalition Avenir accommodation requests” was introduced in the National Assembly on November 7th 2013. It was Québec (CAQ) was more conciliatory on never adopted due to the snap election call made the topic and said that if Quebecers just a few months later. 113 The Canadian Political Science Review Vol. 9, No. 2, 2015 pp. 112-120 wanted a Charter then there should be the party to be ahead of the Liberals, one (Société Radio-Canada 2013). thus cementing Pauline Marois’ plans to Finally, many societal actors accused the call an election campaign on March 5th. PQ of fuelling and exploiting fear towards immigrants as an electoral In terms of electoral organization, two strategy. Indeed, there was considerable things changed between the 2012 and the speculation at the time that Pauline 2014 elections. For the first time, polling Marois wanted to call an early election stations were allowed to be installed on before the end of the year. university and college campuses. If they wish so, students can now have their According to CROP polling results, vote ballot cast on campus be counted as a intentions for the PQ significantly ballot cast in their home riding. This is declined between December 2012 (36%) part of the electoral officer’s strategy to and June 2013 (25%), while support for enhance youth’s electoral participation; the PLQ showed the opposite trend in addition, this new rule helps reduce (increasing from 25 to 38 percent) the bias induced by student over- thanks to that party’s leadership race representation in ridings in which which led to the selection of Philippe educational institutions are present. The Couillard as new Liberal leader but also second institutional change is related to to a rather chaotic first few months in party funding. The new financing rules power for the PQ. Since the Lac- adopted by the Marois government were Mégantic rail disaster of July 2013 aimed at reducing the influence of where the Marois government had been donors in the wake of revelations made applauded for its quick reaction, vote at the Charbonneau Commission. The intentions in favour of the PQ had been maximum is now set at 100 dollars per slowly but surely on the rise, but the donation per year, accompanied by party still remained behind the PLQ. In a greater support from public funds. secluded retreat held in late October 2013, Marois and her caucus decided to The Campaign postpone the election call, feeling that a bit more time was needed for the Charter Contrary to the previous election where debate to have an impact on public the Quebec party system had seen the opinion that would be more clearly in emergence of two new formations (the favour of the government’s position on Coalition Avenir Québec, having merged this issue (Nadeau 2013). In addition, with the former Action Démocratique du Minister of Finance Nicolas Marceau Québec, and Option Nationale created announced in late November that his by dissidents from the PQ), no new government’s next budget, to be important parties have emerged in 2014. presented the following spring, would The three major parties kicked off their unfortunately remain in deficit (of $2.5 campaign by emphasizing the economy billion). This new element further and the issue of unemployment. The first reduced the PQ’s window of opportunity official campaign press conference given for going to the polls. February 2014 by the PQ did not go unnoticed. Indeed, public surveys confirmed the rise in PQ Pauline Marois did not field any vote intentions since the introduction of questions from journalists on this Bill 60 in November and now showed occasion. This “minimum exposition” 114 The Canadian Political Science Review Vol. 9, No. 2, 2015 pp. 112-120 approach was considered as suspect by for the last 20 years, had decided to run the press, and Marois was even again as an independent candidate due to compared to Prime Minister of Canada a disagreement over her former party’s Stephen Harper who is known for over- legalist position on the issue of controlling information (Laurence 2014). secularism (Canadian Press 2013). Barrette would win the seat by a large Even if parties started campaigning on margin. Martine Desjardins, who had the economy, the rest of the campaign been a students’ union leader during the was quickly re-centred around other 2012 maple spring crisis, also decided to issues, notably the ongoing debate about jump into electoral politics under the PQ the province’s constitutional future and banner, but she did not get elected the PQ’s proposed Charter of Values. By despite the increased media visibility she the second day of the campaign, Marois had received in the years since the crisis. had justified this early election call by saying that she wanted a majority of But the most notable new personality in seats so as to be able to adopt the Charter the 2014 campaign was Pierre Karl and she invited all voters, no matter if Péladeau. Owner of the largest media they were in favour of Quebec’s consortium in the province (Québecor) independence or not, to vote for her and very well known throughout Quebec party (Journet and Lessard 2014). The often just by his initials (PKP), Péladeau leader of the PLQ, Philippe Couillard, announced on March 9th that he would accused Marois of misleading voters run for the Parti Québécois in the riding since her party clearly supports of Saint-Jérôme after having denied independence. The PLQ reiterated their rumours about it just a few months commitment against that project while before.