Blanchet says Carney 'does not give a damn' about Quebec
The Bloc Québécois has seen its lead in the province evaporate since the Liberal leader arrived on the scene.
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Mark Carney “doesn’t like” Quebecers and will not protect the province’s culture, language or economy, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Monday in his harshest description yet of the Liberal leader.
Blanchet, who has seen his lead in Quebec evaporate since Carney arrived on the scene, intensified his attack on the Liberals, urging Quebecers to return to the Bloc fold on April 28 to prevent a majority government that would ignore Quebecers.
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“I think he does not give a damn,” Blanchet said in response to a reporter who asked if Carney understands Quebec.
“It is a problem for him to be forced to try to speak French and he doesn’t like it and he doesn’t really understand.”
Blanchet added: “He doesn’t like us so much. He will never say that he doesn’t like us, but I don’t feel the love. I don’t feel interest for Quebec. I don’t feel interest for the difference. I don’t feel interest for the language. I don’t feel interest for the culture.
“I don’t feel interest for anything which is Quebec. He doesn’t say the word lumber, he doesn’t say the word aluminum, he doesn’t say the word fisheries. He doesn’t say the word aerospace.
“What defines us is not even part of his vocabulary. He still has three weeks to show that … in a minority, he wouldn’t be so bad, because for the time being I don’t see what’s good for Quebec in it.”
Blanchet was campaigning in Montreal where he met with Quebec cultural groups and promised to push for more funding.
Recent polls suggest the Liberals have a wide lead in Quebec, with the Bloc and the Conservatives tied for second.
Electoral projections indicate that if a vote were held now, the Liberals could win a majority government, taking several seats that the Bloc won in the last election.
Asked about his poor poll results, Blanchet said the Bloc was also behind early in the 2019 and 2021 federal election campaigns but ended in a strong position, leaving the Liberals with minority governments.
“That’s what we intend to do again. The more people hear about us, the better it is, I believe, for Quebecers.”
He said the Liberals hope voters will think the campaign is over, with the result already known.
“This is not the case at all — Canadians have not decided what they will do,” Blanchet said, noting three weeks remain in the campaign.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has suggested Carney’s French is too poor for him to be an effective prime minister for Quebecers.
Carney has also been criticized in Quebec for declining an invitation to appear on TVA’s French-language leaders’ debate and mistakenly referring to the 1989 Polytechnique massacre as “shootings at Concordia.”
The Liberal leader has also angered Quebec nationalists by saying he would support a federal intervention against Quebec’s Bill 96 language law should legal challenges reach the Supreme Court of Canada.
Responding to the criticism, Carney has said he will improve his French and protect Quebec culture and farmers in negotiations with the United States.
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