Juno News - May 10, 2022


Conservative Party of Quebec leader Eric Duhaime talks francophone conservatism


Episode Stats


Length

3 minutes

Words per minute

187.16118

Word count

725

Sentence count

52


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

The Conservative Party of Quebec's leader Eric Duhem delivers a keynote at the Canada Strong and Free Network Conference, where he speaks about his vision for the future of the party and what it means to be a conservative in Quebec.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 Ili Cantin-Nartel here for True North at the Canada Strong and Free Network Conference
00:00:05.100 that was formerly known as the Manning Centre Conference.
00:00:07.620 Beside me is Monsieur Eric Duhem.
00:00:09.540 He's leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec.
00:00:12.440 So, Mr. Duhem, often we see the Quebec right not really be integrated with the rest of the Canadian right.
00:00:18.980 Why did you decide to come here and give a keynote?
00:00:21.140 Well, I think it's important to have links, and it's important because it does resonate.
00:00:25.040 I mean, yes, the message is not in the same language, but there's a lot of issues that we share together
00:00:31.280 regarding, you know, fiscal conservatism with tax cuts or even the health care reforms.
00:00:37.580 So, there's a lot of things that natural resources development, the free choice for parents and education.
00:00:43.900 Like, there's many, many issues where we have common ground,
00:00:46.480 and I think it's important to share those experiences in the rest of Canada.
00:00:51.160 One aspect I've seen of conservatism in Quebec that is somewhat alive is more on the social fabrics.
00:00:58.260 Quebecers, especially Francophone Quebecers, are very supportive of, let's say, Bill 21 and secularism or nationalism.
00:01:04.540 Where do you stand on those issues, the burqa, the niqab, and religious symbols in public service?
00:01:12.280 First off, you know, I'm a nationalist. I'm a Quebec nationalist.
00:01:16.800 I did support Bill 21, which is the bill on, you know, the neutrality of the state.
00:01:24.740 And I think that currently there's a consensus in Quebec.
00:01:28.260 We have a bonne entente, like it's going well, and I want to make sure it remains like that.
00:01:32.900 I don't want to reopen a can of warm.
00:01:34.980 Fair enough.
00:01:35.620 One issue that is pretty prominent across most conservative parties in Anglophone Canada
00:01:40.300 are more the social issues like abortion and the medical assistance in dying.
00:01:45.000 Quebec is known to be much more socially progressive on these issues.
00:01:47.560 The campaign-life coalition does say there's not a single pro-life MP in the L'Assemblée nationale,
00:01:52.060 and there was a leader in that.
00:01:54.920 Does the Conservative Party of Quebec allow its potential MNAs to have a free vote on conscience issues?
00:02:01.200 First off, you have to know that I'm the first openly gay leader of a Conservative Party in Canada,
00:02:06.200 provincially or federally.
00:02:07.660 I'm not a social conservative personally.
00:02:10.680 I do, and the party is not, per se.
00:02:13.360 But people have the right to have their personal beliefs.
00:02:16.780 But I'm not going to allow any kind of debates or votes on that issue.
00:02:21.020 Okay. Let's talk about the CAC.
00:02:23.640 You said you voted for M. François Legault.
00:02:25.680 You said you're no longer turned off.
00:02:28.440 Was it only the abusive, as you call them, the abusive measures that made you turn off,
00:02:33.300 or were there other factors?
00:02:34.520 No, no. It's the record of what they've did over the last four years.
00:02:38.000 The fact that the public finance went out of control,
00:02:42.240 the fact that they've been hiring bureaucrats,
00:02:43.980 the fact that they lied to us on the production of oil and gas in Quebec,
00:02:50.540 the fact that, yes, they deprived us from our basic freedoms and liberties
00:02:54.080 and rights and civic rights during the crisis.
00:02:57.660 I mean, it's the whole thing.
00:02:59.580 The CAC is, for me, almost a party Québécois 2.0,
00:03:03.000 and that's what I'm so disappointed about,
00:03:05.260 and that's why I'm running now against them.
00:03:07.100 Yeah. One final question.
00:03:08.420 You know, in Quebec, we often do things differently than in the rest of Canada.
00:03:11.380 You know, there's expression à la Québécoise.
00:03:14.660 Is there such a thing as conservatism à la Québécoise?
00:03:17.560 How is Quebec conservatism different?
00:03:19.180 Especially because as soon as you took control,
00:03:21.200 you saw a party that went from around 1% in the polls
00:03:23.980 to one of left-wing writing, Marie-Victorin,
00:03:27.300 you got more than the Liberals.
00:03:28.700 So how is your vision of conservatism?
00:03:30.840 Well, I think that the difference, we have a lot in common,
00:03:33.400 but maybe the difference is that we were more autonomous.
00:03:36.140 We want more a decentralized Canada.
00:03:38.040 We want more power to the National Assembly.
00:03:39.720 I think that's something very different.
00:03:41.380 than the conservative movement, maybe elsewhere.
00:03:43.720 But overall, conservatives in Canada
00:03:45.700 need to be more decentralized than the Liberals,
00:03:47.680 and they've always been,
00:03:48.720 and I hope that they're going to remain that way.
00:03:50.820 Great. Thank you very much.
00:03:51.660 Thank you. Merci beaucoup.