In 1995 a referendum on Quebec's sovereignty was held in Quebec, a province of Canada. After a narrow 50.58%-to-49.42% decision against Quebec sovereignty, the then-Premier of Quebec, Jacques Parizeau, made a concession speech in which he made his infamous remark on "money and the ethnic vote". Although Parizeau later apologized for his statement, the remark has since been widely used by federalists to discredit the sovereigntist movement.
Most recently it resurfaced in the 2003 televised Quebec election debate, when Jean Charest quoted a poorly referenced newspaper article on the matter to baffle his rival, Bernard Landry.
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2 Money 3 The ethnic vote 4 Nous |
Translation:
Quebec has very strict political party financing and public consultation laws which cover the referendum process. To circumvent these strict regulations, the federalist coalition used federal and provincial agencies outside Quebec, which were not governed by Quebec's laws, to finance the NO campaign; particularly for the October 27 federalist rally held in Montreal.
The total cost for this rally alone was estimated at approximately $4 million, a portion of which was in the form of paid leaves and 90% discounts on plane and train tickets for people wishing to travel to Montreal for the rally. The amount thus spent was more than the amount spent by both the sovereignist (Yes) and the official federalist (No) sides during the campaign. Some political analysts have advanced that the federalist rally, held just three days before the vote, tipped the scales in favour of the federalist option.
In the analysis of voting patterns, an "ethnic vote" is a vote where members of a given ethnic group strongly support a candidate or an option in a distinct manner. For example, Pierre Elliot Trudeau wrote that French-Canadians have historically voted for the candidate with a French name instead of voting for the candidate with the best policy for Quebec. This was considered an insult by most, implying that French-Canadians didn't vote intelligently. Also similar, is the support of Afro-Americans for the Democrats during elections.
In Quebec, three linguistic groups exhibit traditional voting patterns: francophones, anglophones and allophones (residents whose native tongue is neither English nor French). Since the 1970s, the francophone vote has been split between the federalist and sovereigntist options (40% and 60% respectively in 1995). The anglophone vote is largely federalist (95%), as is the allophone vote (roughly 92%). In the 1980 referendum, combined allophone and anglophone support for sovereignty was around 8%. In 1995 it was roughly 3%.
During the 2003 election, however, surveys showed that the "children of Bill 101" were voting along the lines of the francophone majority, confirming that the determinent factor in Quebec elections and referenda is not the ethnic origin of the voter, but the language he/she uses, hence the suggestion that "ethnic vote" is not appropriate to describe the phenomenon. The vote is clearly split along linguistic lines, non-francophones voting almost invariably for the party or option opposed to separatism.The quote
Original:Money
The ethnic vote
