On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Alex Montagano walked along Avenue King Edward in Montreal, knocking on doors to make his pitch.
Montagano is not a traditional federal election candidate. His campaign materials show him in a conductor’s uniform — a nod to his passion for trains — and he stamps his fliers with a ticket punch.
He’s running in Monday’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount byelection under the banner of the Centrist Party of Canada, a party that has never elected a federal candidate.
But Montagano — or “Trainman,” as he identifies himself to voters — said a vote for him is a protest vote, intended to send a message to the Liberal Party of Canada.
And while trains may be his passion, his political interests include language rights for English-speaking Quebecers — something he feels is under threat.
“We’re brought up with this idea, this concept that Canada was open, that it is a free society,” he said.
“This idea of what Canada is is dying in Quebec. It’s being attacked.”
On a walk around the neighborhood, his cri de coeur resonates with residents. Many of them raised language as the issue that worries them the most, after recent pieces of provincial and federal legislation ratcheted up tensions in Quebec’s English-speaking community.
“I think language is one of the biggest problems,” said first-time voter Thomas Donnelly. “To get a job, you really have to be perfectly bilingual … It really makes it hard for people to feel included in this province.”
The riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount is considered to be a Liberal stronghold.
It’s also the heartland of anglophone Montreal. According to census data, about 44 per cent of residents list English as their mother tongue.
It was held by Liberal member of Parliament Marc Garneau until he resigned last spring.
While the riding’s boundaries have changed over time, the area has consistently elected Liberal candidates since the 1990s.
The Liberal candidate this time, Anna Gainey, is a former party president. Her father, Bob Gainey, played for the Montreal Canadiens and went on to become their general manager. She was not made available for an interview.
But in recent months, groups representing English-speaking Quebecers, including the Quebec Community Groups Network, have been expressing concern about a bill introduced by the federal Liberal government, C-13, which is a revamp of the Official Languages Act. The bill passed the Senate earlier this week.
The bill aims to strengthen French in Canada, inside and outside of Quebec.
But some groups representing English-speaking Quebecers have expressed concerns about the bill’s repeated references to Quebec’s French Language Charter — which some fear could be interpreted as a tacit endorsement of a recent tightening of provincial language laws in Quebec through Bill 96.
Bill 96 introduced an overhaul of language laws that includes a stricter definition of who qualifies for English-language services, increased powers for the province’s language watchdog, a cap on the English-language colleges known as CEGEPs, and more.
“There’s a definite worry,” said Jonathan Pedneault, Green Party co-leader and candidate in the byelection.
“People feel like they are being treated as second class citizens and I understand that concern.”
It also invokes the notwithstanding clause — a section in the Charter of Rights that gives provincial governments the ability to override parts of the charter — to shield the law from court challenges.
All of this has left the English-speaking community on edge, said former senator and editor-in-chief of the Montreal Gazette Joan Fraser.
“We have been accustomed for a while to the notion that the Quebec government’s policies tend not to be very helpful to us, but that the federal government gave us equal standing in law,” she told CBC News.
“Now there’s a sense, not unjustified, that the federal government is more interested in getting along with the Quebec government than protecting us.”
But residents hoping to park their vote with another, non-Liberal party don’t have a clear choice either.
C-13 passed through the House of Commons almost unanimously. Only Liberal MP Anthony Housefather voted against it.
Anthony Housefather was the lone MP to vote against bill C-13, the Trudeau government’s controversial minority language reform
He said he’s worried the references in a federal bill to Quebec’s French Language Charter could undermine legal challenges to Bill 96, some of which are already underway.
“I’m not saying that there’s a substantial risk or a huge risk, but I think there’s a moderate risk. And I prefer not to take a moderate risk to my community’s right to be served in English federally,” he said.
Federal Minister of Official Languages Ginette Petitpas Taylor has said repeatedly that C-13 will not adversely affect English-speaking Quebecers.
Her ministry also pledged $2.5 million to support the community’s arts and culture sector.
Despite the reassurance, voters like Doug Karpman said C-13 and Bill 96 are top of mind for many people in this byelection.
“I would say that’s the only issue I’ve ever even heard discussed in the byelection,” he said. “People are worried about their minority rights within the English community.”
VANDERHOOF, B.C. – British Columbia Conservative Leader John Rustad has been re-elected in his riding of Nechako Lakes.
Rustad was kicked out of the Opposition BC United Party for his support on social media of an outspoken climate change critic in 2022, and last year was acclaimed as the B.C. Conservative leader.
Buoyed by the BC United party suspending its campaign, and the popularity of Pierre Poilievre’s federal Conservatives, Rustad led his party into contention in the provincial election.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
VANCOUVER – Predictions of a close election were holding true in British Columbia on Saturday, with early returns showing the New Democrats and the B.C. Conservatives neck and neck.
Conservative Leader John Rustad was elected in Nechako Lakes, and 20 minutes after polls closed, his party was elected or leading in 46 ridings, with the NDP elected or leading in 45.
Among the early winners were the NDP’s Ravi Kahlon in Delta North and Niki Sharma in Vancouver-Hastings, as well as the Conservatives’ Bruce Banman in Abbotsford South.
It was a rain-drenched election day in much of the province.
Voters braved high winds and torrential downpours brought by an atmospheric river weather system that forced closures of several polling stations due to power outages.
Residents faced a choice for the next government that would have seemed unthinkable just a few months ago, between the incumbent New Democrats led by David Eby and Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives, who received less than two per cent of the vote last election
Green Leader Sonia Furstenau has acknowledged her party won’t win, but she’s hoping to retain a presence in the legislature, where the party currently has two members.
Elections BC has said results are expected quickly, with electronic vote tabulation being used provincewide for the first time.
The election authority expected most votes to be counted by about 8:30 p.m., and that the count would be “substantially complete” within another half-hour.
Six new seats have been added since the last provincial election, and to win a majority, a party must secure 47 seats in the 93-seat legislature.
There had already been a big turnout before election day on Saturday, with more than a million advance votes cast, representing more than 28 per cent of valid voters and smashing the previous record for early polling.
The wild weather on election day was appropriate for such a tumultuous campaign.
Once considered a fringe player in provincial politics, the B.C. Conservatives stand on the brink of forming government or becoming the official Opposition.
Rustad’s unlikely rise came after he was thrown out of the Opposition, then known as the BC Liberals, joined the Conservatives as leader, and steered them to a level of popularity that led to the collapse of his old party, now called BC United — all in just two years.
Rustad shared a photo on social media Saturday showing himself smiling and walking with his wife at a voting station, with a message saying, “This is the first time Kim and I have voted for the Conservative Party of BC!”
Eby, who voted earlier in the week, posted a message on social media Saturday telling voters to “grab an umbrella and stay safe.”
Two voting sites in Cariboo-Chilcotin in the B.C. Interior and one in Maple Ridge in the Lower Mainland were closed due to power cuts, Elections BC said, while several sites in Kamloops, Langley and Port Moody, as well as on Hornby, Denman and Mayne islands, were temporarily shut but reopened by mid-afternoon.
Karin Kirkpatrick, who is running for re-election as an Independent in West Vancouver-Capilano, said in a statement that her campaign had been in touch with Elections BC about the risk of weather-related disruptions, and was told that voting tabulation machines have battery power for four hours in the event of an outage.
West Vancouver was one of the hardest hit areas for flooding, and Kirkpatrick later said on social media that her campaign had been told that voters who couldn’t get to a location to cast their ballot because of the extreme weather could vote through Elections BC by phone.
— With files from Brenna Owen
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
VICTORIA – Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau has lost her seat in the legislature after changing ridings to Victoria-Beacon Hill.
Furstenau lost to Grace Lore, the minister of children and family development in the previous NDP government.
The Green leader was first elected 2017, when her party played a key roll in helping the New Democrats form government with a confidence and supply agreement between the two parties.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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