An inconvenient truth

The front-runners of the four local provincial electoral ridings launched their campaign Monday morning with a low-key press conference in Dollard des Ormeaux. Even at this early stage of the race, The Chronicle wouldn’t be going out on a limb in predicting a Liberal sweep of Nelligan, Jacques Cartier, Marquette and Robert Baldwin.

The reason being?

There doesn’t seem to be enough anger out there over the agglomeration issue.

One of the biggest issues for most West Islanders remains the national question, and the Liberals know that very well. They play that card at every possible turn, reminding West Islanders — largely bilingual and federalist — that only the Liberals are keeping Quebec in Canada.

Action démocratique du Québec leader Mario Dumont has been vague on his Quebec sovereignty stance, but when push came to shove, he was riding the bus with Jacques Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard in 1995. He isn’t calling for another referendum like the Parti Québécois, but is still pushing for a more independent Quebec within Canada.

The only time in recent history that the Liberals failed to sweep the West Island provincially was 1989, when a massive anglophone backlash against Bill 178 (the commercial sign law restricting use of English words) saw Equality Party candidates elected in four largely anglophone ridings — including Jacques Cartier.

Yes, the mayors of Baie d’Urfé, Ste. Anne de Bellevue and Senneville have thrown their support behind Mario Dumont. However, mayors from larger West Island municipalities, like Dollard des Ormeaux and Pointe Claire, seem to prefer working with the Liberals for an improved setup of regional services.

The outrage just isn’t there.

To be fair, the agglomeration structure is only 14 months old, and mayors from the 15 reconstituted cities have begun meeting recently with Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay in an effort to get more democracy on the agglomeration council, so there may yet be a light at the end of the tunnel for West Islanders whose tax bills have gone up in order to pay for downtown financial woes.

Still, the fact remains that there will be an election March 26, albeit one without any close races locally, because as long as there is federalist trepidation over the notion of a PQ government, there will be Liberal sweeps of the West Island. The Chronicle is not backing one party or another in this election but as long as there is only one serious federalist party in Quebec, it seems most West Islanders will prefer to err on the side of caution and try to keep Canada intact. It’s our version of An Inconvenient Truth.