The Liberals led by Philippe Couillard trounced the Parti Quebecois (PQ), winning a majority 70 seats to the PQ’s 30. The Coalition Avenir Quebec won 22 seats and the Quebec Solidaire won three seats.
McGill University historian John Zucchi said the Charter of Quebec Values, euthanasia and separatism were all “intimately connected” in this election. All three issues showed the PQ either didn’t understand the needs of the electorate or responded with “facile solutions,” he said.
“On the question of identity, they responded with a silly charter that would take care of problems by pinpointing ethno-religious groups,” he said. As to the “fears people have concerning the health system as they grow older, they responded with euthanasia.”
Concerning the economic future of Quebec, the PQ proposed a “fast-track solution of separation,” he said.
McGill University bio-ethicist Margaret Somerville said she was “relieved” by the victory, calling it a “hat trick” in the goals of repudiating separatism, rejecting the values charter and setting aside the euthanasia debate. She said she held a “tenuous hope” the vote was an outright rejection of euthanasia.
Quebec had come within a “hair’s breadth” of passing euthanasia Bill-52 only days before the election call, she pointed out.
“My guess and my hope is that the Liberals and particularly Mr. Couillard won’t want to bring anything like this back in because it would necessarily mean a confrontation with Ottawa,” said Somerville. Euthanasia falls under the Criminal Code which is federal jurisdiction.
Former Canadian Ambassador to the Holy See Anne Leahy, who now teaches in the faculty of religion at McGill, believes euthanasia won’t be a priority for the Liberals.
“The people elected a new government, clearly one that will govern on the economy. Everything else comes after fixing the economy,” she said.
But former PQ Social Services Minister Veronique Hivon, who was re-elected, has already told Quebec media she hopes the euthanasia legislation she championed “will not disappear.” She said a majority of MNAs in the last National Assembly supported it, Leahy noted.
“Vigilance will be the order of the day,” Leahy said.
She described the push for euthanasia as a pan-Canadian issue that cuts across party lines and has to do with a loss of understanding of “what the human being really is.”
Though polls showed a majority of francophone voters were in favour of the Charter of Quebec Values, “Francophone voters did not think this was a crucial element in the election,” Leahy said. She praised the common sense of the Quebec people.
The PQ government drafted the Charter to affirm what it called the secular nature of the province. It would have barred all employees in the public sector — from health care, to education, the public service and the judiciary — from wearing any religious clothing, headgear or large crucifixes or other jewelry that identify their faith.
Somerville said the Charter rankled many fair-minded people.
“A lot of Quebeckers, even if not religious, were appalled by this forcible suppression of religion the charter would have entailed: ‘if you want to show you’re religious we’ll fire you.’ ”
Somerville described this as “terrible” and “antithetical to the way Quebeckers see themselves.”