The hot summer months are not conducive to political communication simply because voters are no longer listening.
It is therefore before this summer break that the parties lay out their messages for an electoral campaign which will start on the wheel hats from the start of the autumn.
This is why what our parties say and do these days is important.
Marketing
They test ideas, messages, slogans, announce candidates, determine which regions to prioritize, etc.
We will also rework the chef’s look, the words chosen, the clothes, etc.
It would be wrong to be offended. You must, dear voter, choose one party among several.
It is therefore normal that they put themselves in seduction mode. It’s been like that since elections have existed.
And it is precisely because the parties put themselves in seduction mode that the voice of simple activists becomes interesting to listen to.
The grassroots activist is less into grand strategy than the leaders and lets his heart speak.
His speech is authentic, sincere, not “scripted”.
It therefore often offers us a window on the real state of mind within a formation.
I give you two recent examples.
François Legault calls for the repatriation of immigration powers. I say again that he is fundamentally correct.
But a simple activist, Kevin Serafini, from Terrebonne, said on the microphone:
“We have repeatedly repeated this request. Canada has said no every time since the government of Robert Bourassa. However, each time, we take our hole. Enough foolishness! “.
It takes a balance of power to obtain new powers.
What will the Quebec government do after repeated refusals?
This activist names a reality that the leadership of his party will sooner or later have to face.
Let us now look at Québec solidaire.
QS claims to be concerned about the situation of French, and, with reservations, has just supported Law 96. Very good.
But at the end of the week, an activist, Hélène Bissonnette, goes to the microphone to say that “the smoke show around the decline of French is a trap”. Downright.
Another campaigner, Sam Boskey, called QS’s support for language reform “sad, disappointing and dangerous”. Whoops.
In short, far from the image that the management wishes to project, several grassroots activists do not consider French to be in danger and do not consider it necessary to act.
Tiring
QS also calls itself a sovereignist.
Another grassroots activist, David Touchette, openly said that QS’s support for language reform “will hurt the party’s efforts to break into ridings where many Anglophones and Allophones live […]”.
What to think of the sincerity of nationalism and sovereignty of a party that hopes to make gains in English-speaking ridings in Montreal? Seriously.
Moral of the story: the truth about a party often comes out of the mouths of those grassroots activists whom the leadership finds “well tiring”.
