Francois Legault, leader of the Coalition Avenir Quebec party, speaks during a news conference following a debate in Montreal on Sept. 13, 2018.
Days before a provincial election in Quebec, a center-right party promising to slash immigration and to kick out all immigrants who fail tests of "values" and the French language
is in a dead heat with the incumbent Liberals who have governed the province for most of the past 15 years.
The Coalition Avenir Quebec, a party led by businessman Francois Legault, is tied with premier Philippe Couillard's Liberals, with each party supported by 30 percent of decided voters, according to a poll by Ipsos for La Presse and Global News. That makes it likely the Oct. 1 election will produce a minority government.
This year's contest will be the
first in nearly six decades where the "national question" - whether French-speaking Quebec should separate from the rest of Canada - is not a campaign issue. But those bitter independence battles have morphed into acrimonious fights over immigration and perceived threats to Quebec's francophone identity.
"Young Quebecers are less attuned to independence, so the old nationalist discourse on sovereignty is not as strong," said Chedly Belkhodja, a professor at Concordia University's School of Community and Public Affairs in Montreal. "The big questions now are about identity and what Quebec will look like."
The hot-button topic of immigration emerged as a significant issue two weeks into the election campaign when Legault - then the clear front-runner - detailed his immigration platform.
Comment: This is pretty gross. One has to wonder if the value of a University education is worth the price prostitution inevitably has on your soul.
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