Thursday, November 17, 2005

Conservative Prospects in Quebec

I was in Montreal yesterday to give a speech to the McGill University Campus Conservative club, and while here I talked to some conservative/libertarian Quebecois to get their take on the political situation.

What they told me does not bode will for Conservative Party.

To be blunt, the Conservative brand name just doesn’t register here.

Quebecois fed up with the Liberals will park their vote with the Bloc, even those who are not separatist.

In fact, the Bloc makes the perfect protest vote – Vote for them and you send the Liberals a message without ever having to worry about the Bloc Quebecois ever taking power.

On the other hand, I got the sense that even here in Quebec – home of the “Quebec Model” – people are getting fed up with big government, militant unions and high taxes.

The Tories need to connect the dots.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gerry, What do you think of a sister party for the conservatives in Quebec, like the CSU/CDU in Germany? It would be a conservative Quebec option. Maybe a federal wing of the ADQ?

Anonymous said...

Gerry....I have lived in Montreal and in the Laurentians for my entire life (45 years)... there is no one in Quebec with the vision nor persistance to push the conservative cause here....especially outside of Montreal. But in regards to the question of whether people are fed up in Quebec....the answer is definitely. If people only spoke English here, we will be a second "conservative" Alberta.

Monkey Loves to Fight said...

Actually conservatism has had some success in Quebec provincially. Not only is there the Action Democratique, but even the Quebec Liberals have generally taken positions considered right wing. The problem for the Conservatives is they are seen as Reform Party III who frequently insulted Quebec and French culture. If the party wasn't seen as so hostile to Quebecers, they would probably be successful. Hopefully the next leader will be someone who keeps true to the conservative economic policies, but drops the social conservatism, pro-American, and anti-Quebec policies and rhetoric