Quebec election: Immigration, climate change major topics early on in leaders debate

Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault speaks during a rally in Drummondville, Que., on Sept. 11.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press

Coalition Avenir Quebec Leader François Legault was forced to defend his comments on immigration as the first leaders debate of the Quebec election campaign began Thursday evening.

Early in the contest on the TVA network, moderator Pierre Bruneau asked Legault if he believes there is more violence in Montreal than in other parts of the province because the region receives more immigrants.

“That’s not what I said,” Legault responded.

“Yes or no?” Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade asked.

“What I said is that all the countries in the world have to ensure that new arrivals are integrated into the values of where they will live, look at what’s happening in Sweden,” Legault said without giving details of the situation in that country. “And in Quebec, our priority is to integrate in French.”

Earlier this month, a right-wing bloc that includes a nationalist anti-immigration party won a narrow majority in Sweden’s parliament – a major political shift in the Scandinavian country, which had a decades-long history of welcoming refugees but is grappling with a crime wave linked with immigration.

Last week, Legault said Quebeckers “don’t like violence” when talking about the challenge of integrating immigrants.

Meanwhile, climate change was also one of the main topics early on in the debate.

While Anglade attempted to sell her vision of making Quebec a global leader in the production of green hydrogen, she faced questions from Legault about how a Liberal government would produce enough electricity to reach that goal.

Conservative Party of Quebec Leader Eric Duhaime, the only leader onstage who supports exploiting Quebec’s fossil fuel resources, asked Anglade when she had changed her opinion on that issue. Duhaime said that years ago, when Anglade was a member of the CAQ, she was a champion of fossil fuels and called for turning Quebec into the Norway of North America.

Asked by Bruneau what sacrifices Quebeckers would have to make to fight climate change, Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and Quebec solidaire spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois didn’t give clear answers.

“Quebeckers know they’ll have to change their lives,” Nadeau-Dubois said. “But their quality of life will improve.”

The debate – known as a “head-to-head” contest because leaders are pitted against one another – is divided into three sections: the environment, quality of life and the economy; health, family and education; and immigration, language and identity.

Legault, the only participant who has debated before as a provincial party leader, has a sizable lead in the polls over his four main opponents.

The debate comes as a Leger poll for Quebecor media published earlier Thursday shows a slight drop in support for the CAQ, down four points to 38 per cent. They are followed by the Liberals at 18 per cent, Quebec solidaire at 17 and the Conservatives at 15 per cent. The PQ trails the pack at 11 per cent.

The online survey of 3,100 Quebeckers aged 18 and older between Sept. 6 and 12, cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based polls are not considered random samples.

A second French debate, on Radio-Canada, will take place on Sept. 22.

Unlike in 2018, there will be no English-language debate this election campaign.

– With files from The Associated Press