Not around here: Dirty tricks! Voter suppression!
Pauline Marois, the new premier of Quebec. Did dirty tricks help her win?
We’ve heard a lot this campaign season about “voter suppression” — mostly in the form of Democrats alleging that Republican efforts to require photo ID at the polls constitutes an attempt to depress voting among certain Democratic constituencies.
Well, now we have some new allegations of voter suppression.
In Quebec.
The French-speaking province held a provincial election Tuesday, voting out of power the Liberals and into the power the separatist-minded Parti Quebecois. (For what it’s worth, I’m not sure there is a conservative party in Quebec. The Parti Quebecois is often described as a center-left party — and one of the quirks in this election was the emergence of a third party, described as even further to the left. So I’m not sure what conservatives do there. From all I can tell, the election was more about identity than ideology, with the Parti Quebecois promising another vote on independence at some point.)
In any case, in the days leading up to the election, the Liberals complained about certain dirty tricks — in the form of “robo-calls” in English going into certain French-speaking areas, supposedly on their behalf. Nothing apparently riles up the French speakers like getting a phone call in English. Sacre bleu! The Liberals can’t even speak our language! Time to vote for the PQ!
And on election day, the Liberals also complained about similar robo-calls — this time into Liberal strongholds — falsely telling voters that their voting place had been moved.
Au revoir!
– Dwayne Yancey
September 5, 2012 - 11:12 AM
Maybe Republicans should call Dems disquised as dems speaking Ebonics!
#1 We can always count on Jack.
Coalition Avenir Quebec is center right, at least on economic issues. The Quebec Liberal Party is also effectively center right, though they wouldn’t necessarily advertise themselves as such.
Center right conservative voters have choices in Quebec. It’s just that they’re center right, unlike the far right we have in the US.
Thanks for the insight, Kevin L.
It also strikes me that this is a good example of people voting for a party, even though they may not necessarily believe in some of what the party wants to do.
Parti Quebecois is dedicated to independence, and promises another referendum — yet voters in Quebec have rejected independence in the past, and polls show support is pretty low now. But voters were apparently unhappy with the reigning Liberals for other things, so they voted in the PQ.
– Dwayne Yancey, senior editor (who has visited Quebec a few times and discovered that Quebeckers will treat English-speakers better if they find out they’re Americans. I remember being at a cafe in Quebec City. My wife and I knew only a few halting words of French; the waiter figured out we were Americans and quickly switched to English. Nearby was a table of English-speaking Canadians, who probably knew French but refused to speak it — the waiter likewise refused to speak to them in English.)
Dwayne, Quebec City is one of my most favorite places I have ever visited. You were lucky to find someone that spoke English and French. I think one out of the 5 or 6 places we ate ONLY had French speaking waiters/waitresses and my French is rusty as heck!
Did you see the Montmorency Falls outside of Montreal?
Yes, I did. Keep in mind this was years ago, though I’m sure the falls is still there! We were there not long after one of the unsuccessful votes for independence; somewhere I have a picture of a big “Oui” sign painted on a rooftop.
If my memory services, the English-speaking Canadians who refused to speak French were students from Edmonton, Alberta — and we could overhear them making it clear amongst themselves they had no intention of speaking French.
A lot of places overseas, the locals treat Americans rudely but are nice to the Canadians. In Quebec, we found just the opposite — English-speaking Americans (at least those who tried to say a few French words) were given a pass, but the English-speaking Canadians were treated rather roughly.
I looked this up — it was 1984. I remember because we went to a Montreal Expos game and saw Pete Rose play (and that was the only year he played for that team, which has since been relocated as the Washington Nationals.)
Yeah, Montreal and Quebec City were super nice to us visitors too. Montreal has to be the cleanest city I have ever been in. Drinking wine on a balcony in Quebec City watching the snow fall was pretty amazing too.