marois-casseroles

There’s nothing like the first attack ad of a political campaign. Like a shot across the bow, it at once informs us that there will be an election, and reminds us why we don’t much like elections.

In addition to a series of the now de rigeur “shirt sleeves rolled up to let you know I mean business” ads release by the Quebec Liberal Party in recent weeks, Jean Charest’s listing ship also released a video of PQ leader Pauline Marois at a casseroles protest in Argenteuil. The clip was slowed down and presented in black and white, followed simply by the PLQ logo. It thankfully left viewers to draw their own conclusions, without the ominous narration the federal Conservatives have turned into an attack ad art form.

In the video, Marois looks confused, uncomfortable and somewhat tone deaf as she attempts to bang two pot lids together. Charest clarified the ad by saying, in essence, that it was beneath someone who aspires to be Premier to protest in the street. According to a leaked powerpoint, the PLQ theme in the run up to this election is that Charest is the responsible choice, while Marois represents the “street”.

Sadly, the ad works. For those of us who aspire to leaders who stand with us in the streets, rather than sniffing at us from on high, it quite clearly brings home the point that Marois is more an opportunist than an ally.

She and her caucus ditched the red square weeks ago, deciding it to be a liability on the campaign trail. They too want to raise tuition, just more slowly than their ambitious Liberal colleagues. And a critical glance over Quebec’s political history reveals that the PQ, just like the PLQ, have repeatedly tried to raise tuition and cut social programs.

We’ve come a long way from the days of Rene Levesque, when the PQ saw sovereignty as a means to an end, a way of creating a truly ‘distinct society’. Somewhere along the way sovereignty stopped being a means to an end, and started being an end in itself. Parizeau, Bouchard, Landry and now Marois pay lip service to progressive values, but are staunch neo-liberals at heart.

On the surface, the attack ad is designed to provoke fear. After all the red square is a symbol of “violence and intimidation”, in the now infamous words of Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre. The street protests simply a gang of unruly anarchists in need of a spanking and a bottle.

Given that the entire PLQ playbook thus far has consisted of fostering fear, division and acrimony, it should come as no surprise that they would try to reap what they have sown on the eve of an election. But the secondary effect of the ad, and Charest’s gleeful targeting of Marois’ various flip flops on the student file, is to disillusion progressives. I don’t think this is an accidental outcome.

Much research has been done on attack ads, showing that their primary goal, and effect, is not to change voters minds, but to discourage progressive voters from voting at all. It’s no accident that progressive parties do not use attack ads. Moral qualms aside, it would simply be self-defeating to do so.

Attack ads are a tried and tested form of voter suppression. They might get your true believers fired up too, but that’s just a bonus. What they really do is convince idealistic, progressive voters that politics is a train wreck, and the best reaction is to avert ones eyes. Once we do so, we leave the table clear for a minority to shift public policy in directions opposed by the majority.

In this ad, the message I, and I imagine many progressives, take away is that Marois is a phony, her support for the strike is feigned and neither leader represents my values. In which case, why bother voting, right?

The effectiveness of the ad is in its truth. It needs no narration because we can clearly see how desperately Marois wishes to be somewhere, anywhere other than on that street with the citizens she aspires to represent.

If Quebeckers felt we could fix our problems with a cosmetic change of government, I doubt so many would have been on the streets over these last few months. We feel a visceral need to defeat Charest and his corrupt, authoritarian and neo-liberal government in our bones, we understand that Marois may be our only chance of doing so, and yet we remain profoundly unenthused by her.

She’ll just do the same crummy things, slightly slower. Is this what the promise of democratic change has come to?

The only party which faithfully represents the mass movement which has gripped our streets, and our hearts, is Quebec Solidaire. Its co-spokesperson Amir Khadir, and his daughter, have been arrested for participating in protests. Amir, fellow spokesperson Françoise David and their entire team have been in the streets with us from the beginning. They continue to wear the red square proudly.

Unlike the other parties, they understand that we have the money to pay for education and other social programs, but we spend it on corporate tax cuts and inflated contracts. They are untouched by corruption, the only party which can say as much, and have a reputation for honesty and integrity.

Yet people urge a strategic vote for the PQ, because the Liberals must be defeated and only the PQ can do so. Quebec Solidaire are lovely, they argue, but they cannot win.

I remember hearing similar arguments when I worked in the NDP’s Quebec central office in the 2011 campaign. And we all know how that one turned out.

When I hit the ballot box, I won’t be voting out of fear, or for the lesser of two evils. I’ll be voting for a party which, mostly, represents my values and I feel I can trust.

Imagine if we all did the same? If we stopped letting the media tell us our choices and decided to vote for a party we believed in?

QS are not the Greens, they’re not a protest vote. They are viable contenders in up to a dozen ridings, and that number could grow swiftly if they’re able to campaign effectively. I doubt they will form the next government of Quebec, regrettably, but the most likely outcome of the next election is a minority government. In that case QS could easily hold the balance of power, and every additional QS MNA we elect is one more voice holding the powerful to account on behalf of the little guys and gals.

If QS is able to harness the volunteer power of this movement, and integrate students and others into their campaign, this could become a very exciting election in a hurry. I’m looking forward to it.

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