Pauline Marois

Monday April 7, 2014

Monday April 7, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday April 7, 2014

Election gut check for Quebec’s Pauline Marois

As invective took over the Quebec election campaign these past several days, PQ Leader Pauline Marois suddenly seemed to become more intimate with the electorate.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014There she was prefacing so many sentences with the very personal “between you and me …”

It may have been just a tic, or more likely a device to soften her “Concrete Lady” image and deflate the partisan nature of the latest contretemps.

Of course it can also be seen as a last, almost intimate appeal from someone who now realizes she has rolled the dice on probably the biggest gamble of her political life, and that events may not be working out quite the way she thought.

Thursday, March 13, 2014Marois has been a constant on the Quebec political landscape for almost 35 years. First elected, while pregnant, to the National Assembly in 1981, Marois has been a prominent cabinet member in the governments of René Lévesque, Jacques Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard.

Like her or not, people here feel they know her. Quebec’s first woman finance minister, first woman party leader (on her third attempt), and first woman premier, in 2012.

Saturday, October 5, 2013Clearly, her campaign slogan — Déterminé — is more than bluster: she is indeed one determined woman.

But, now, perhaps more than ever, a weekend away from election-day Monday, Marois’s entire future is on the line.

Short of securing the majority she seemed so confident she would win just four weeks ago when she called the vote, she may well be forced to take her leave, even as early as Monday night.

If such is the case, she’ll join ranks with Alberta’s Alison Redford and Newfoundland’s Kathy Dunderdale in the new subcategory of female premiers forced to resign for losing their party’s favour. (Source: CBC News)

 

Other Media: Reprinted in iPolitics, The Western Star, Corner Brook NL, Whitehouse Daily Star

 

 

Post by L’Expérience lol78.

 

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Wednesday, March 26, 2014Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Marois tries to change the channel from alleged student vote fraud

After a weekend spent spreading the spectre of widespread voter fraud by out-of province students that was debunked by Quebec’s chief electoral officer, Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois tried to change the theme to integrity Monday, suggesting the Liberals are lacking in that category.

Thursday, March 13, 2014But the false voter allegation issue refused to die at PQ news conferences, while in Sherbrooke Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard suggested it was a sign Marois’s campaign was in panic mode.

After a brief presentation by Marois in Drummondville explaining why the PQ was the party of integrity as compared to the Liberals, the first question put to her was whether she still had faith in Quebec’s chief electoral officer.

On Sunday, PQ Justice Minister Bertrand St-Arnaud said the Quebec election could be “stolen by people from Ontario and the rest of Canada,” accusations Marois said Sunday made her “sick to her stomach.” The PQ demanded daily reports of new voter registrations.

Saturday, September 14, 2013Marois, accompanied by St-Arnaud, backtracked Monday, but denied suggestions the allegations were exaggerated for electoral gain.

“We do not put in question the integrity of the chief electoral officer,” Marois said. The requests for an investigation were justified, she said, because an Elections Quebec employee reported unusual numbers of non-francophone voters, especially university students, trying to register to vote in the downtown Montreal PQ stronghold riding of Sainte-Marie-Saint-Jacques. Four other ridings were said to have similar issues, she said, confirmed by a spokesperson for Elections Quebec and reported by Le Devoir. Several media outlets later reported the issue as well, she said. (Source: Montreal Gazette)

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Thursday, March 13, 2014Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, March 13, 2014

Is the Rest of Canada still willing to fight to keep Quebec?

“Until next time!” pledges René Lévesque, after his bid for separation was soundly beaten on Referendum Night in 1980. With Quebec now beginning another election campaign — and the Parti Quebecois looking good in early polls — is Canada heading for the next time? Some are asking if it has the will to fight for Quebec one more time.

The Parti Quebecois has come a long way in the 18 months since Madame Marois came to power with a minority government. And the first poll of the campaign – conducted yesterday morning by Leger Marketing — shows the PQ with a strong lead among francophone voters. Most indications at the outset of the campaign are that she will emerge this time with a majority.

And while the PQ hasn’t committed to holding another referendum on Quebec sovereignty, Madame Marois said in February that she is a separatist and if elected she has the right to hold one if the support is there.

Popular support for that within Quebec is one thing. But nearly 20 years since since the last referendum, how energetic is the rest of Canada for another fight for Quebec?

Michael Den Tandt says the appetite to fight to keep Quebec in Canada is waning. He is a columnist with Post Media and joins us from our Ottawa studio. (Continued: CBC News)

SOCIAL MEDIA

Shared at: iPolitics and…

Post by L’Expérience lol78.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Saturday, October 5, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, October 5, 2013

Former PQ Premiers voice opposition to Quebec Charter of Values

Another former premier and prominent separatist has come out swinging against the proposed Charter of Quebec Values.

Lucien Bouchard sat down with a La Presse columnist and outlined his views on the charter, saying he had previously not wanted to intervene, but that he found the divisive discourse troublesome.

Bouchard largely echoed the opinions put forth by another former premier in another newspaper Thursday.

In a letter, Jacques Parizeau called the charter extreme, divisive and unnecessary. In his interview, Bouchard said his predecessor had the right idea when it came to the proposal.
“What Mr. Parizeau wrote, it makes sense, it brings us back to real values of the tolerance and openness of Quebec society, but highlights the fundamental principle of secularism, developed around rules,” he said.

Bouchard said religious symbols should be banned for public employees in positions of power, such as judges and police officers, and that those who provide and receive government services should not be able to cover their faces.

He also said the time is right to take down the cross in the National Assembly. Although the charter would ban “ostentatious” religious symbols, the PQ has argued the cross in the legislature is a reminder of Quebec’s heritage and should stay put. (Source: CTV News)

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Saturday, September 14, 2013

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, September 14, 2013

Charter of Quebec Values: Daycares risk losing Muslim educators, group warns

During the one year that Karima Al-Ouatiq has worked at a daycare in the St-Laurent borough, not one parent has complained about the fact that she wears a hijab.

But if the Quebec government has its way, Al-Ouatiq and three of her fellow daycare workers may have to choose between removing their hijabs or quitting their jobs.

“The fact that I wear a hijab is irrelevant,” Al-Ouatiq said on Tuesday. “No one should be able to tell me not to wear one, the same way we don’t tell people not to wear pants or T-shirts.”

The Quebec government released details of its controversial charter of values on Tuesday. If the charter is adopted by the National Assembly, it will ban government employees from wearing religious symbols in daycares, secondary schools and other educational institutions.

Al-Ouatiq said the daycare where she works is multicultural, and many Muslim parents are happy that some of the educators wear hijabs.

“You can’t tell a Muslim woman wearing a hijab that she can’t work with children,” she insisted.

She said she expects the Muslim community to protest against the government’s plan.

“The Muslim community and the Arab community will do something,” she said. “They won’t just sit on their hands.”

Al-Ouatiq said she believes Quebec’s proposed restrictions on religious symbols are part of a “wave that is coming from Europe.” (Source: The Montreal Gazette)

FEEDBACK

This cartoon was featured in a gallery of Editorial Cartoons in the Yahoo! Canada News for September 2013, and here. It received lots of likes, shares, and colourful commentary on the Yahoo! Canada News Facebook Page.  It caught the attention of people on the Graeme MacKay – Editorial Cartoonist Facebook Page.