Hanes: Legault divided to conquer, and that legacy will haunt us |
No one could doubt Premier François Legault’s sincerity Wednesday when, in announcing he will step down, he expressed his undying affection for Quebecers.
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“I profoundly love Quebecers and Quebec,” Legault said in the marble-clad foyer of the Honoré-Mercier Building that houses his office in Quebec City. “Being premier of Quebec was the honour of my life.”
But whether you felt included in his parting embrace depends on what kind of Quebecer you are.
Legault’s nationalist pride defined him. Unfortunately his brand of nationalism was often narrow and exclusionary.
Legault’s efforts to protect the French language, culture and identity too often divided Quebecers, rather than united people. As a populist, he drove wedges that created an us and a them. English speakers, people of diverse backgrounds, immigrants and even Montrealers were often made to feel they didn’t belong to the Québécois nation Legault so ardently defended.
Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec never made significant inroads in Montreal, so maybe he felt he didn’t owe the city and its increasingly multicultural and multilingual population much — even if it is the only French-speaking metropolis in North America.
He regularly shortchanged Montreal, whether on public transit or its proportional share of funding to deal with homelessness. He also complained the city was the source of many of the problems bedevilling Quebec: the ubiquity of Bonjour/Hi; all those anglophone university students traipsing around downtown; the influx of temporary immigrants eroding the status of French. He mentioned that last one in his resignation remarks Wednesday.
Among the accomplishments Legault cited was Bill 21, the OG secularism law that banned public servants in positions of authority from wearing religious garb. Popular........