Lincoln: Amid wavering Liberal support, beware of the wolf in sheep’s clothing

In no way can I see the CAQ as a valid and credible alternative to the PQ, but rather a choice between flood and fire.

I have been very surprised, indeed shaken, by the significant number of traditional Liberal supporters who, given the colourless start by the Quebec Liberal Party and its leader, have indicated that a vote for the Coalition Avenir Québec and Christine Fréchette would be an effective way to avoid a Parti Québécois victory and a third referendum.

Of course I fully understand their deep apprehension at the thought of yet another emotionally divisive and traumatic referendum. The large majority of us seek normalcy, stability and peaceful co-existence with our fellow citizens. Referendums, as we know, are soul-wrenching exercises, which inevitably leave societal scars in their wake.

However, that said, in no way can I see the CAQ as a valid and credible alternative to the PQ. It is a choice between one extreme and another, between flood and fire — between the PQ quest for independence through a referendum, and the incremental and systematic progression towards it by the CAQ.

I believe that those who see the CAQ government (pardon me, the Équipe Christine Fréchette government) as a “federalist” option have forgotten or are ready to ignore the CAQ’s cynical and regressive record over the last eight years. I suggest that it adds up as the most discriminatory and illiberal compendium of laws, regulations and decrees that Quebec has experienced since the modern political era launched by the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s.