Quebec: a guide to Welsh politics.

As I pointed out in a previous post.

Two new Parties are fighting the Qubec election both lead by former leaders of Parti Quebecois (PQ) the new parties are seen to be on th e right and left of PQ.

But it is the left which seeks Independence. Or Sovereignty as used there.

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAO)led by former cabinet minister François Legault seeks to pand end to the Sovreignity Question  but although the party does not support independence, it advocates Quebec nationalism. This includes limiting immigration and decreasing the use of languages other than French, especially in Montreal. it is seen as a a party of the right .

Option nationale(ON)  is led by Jean-Martin Aussant . A party  it is fed up of Parti Quebecois dithering over Quebec sovereignty   and a refusal to set referendum timetables in its perennial effort to win over that crucial soft-nationalist electorate.

Interestingly  Aussant has reached out to Anglophones putting the economic case rather than one based pn the French language.

So we have two parties  one which bases its argument on promoting French but not independence and  one pushing from independence and trying to include Monoglot English speakers and in a youtube video

.

Sadly it is the right wing anti-independence pary CAO that it is likely to gain seats . Whilst Aussant  will be lucky to keep his own.

But its only be going a year so don't right it off yet.

But looking at the debate from ONIf I was a Plaid or SNP poltician  I would shamelessly steal the following argument about the future economics of an Indpendent  Nations that Aussant makes...

One of the keys, Aussant stressed, is persuading Quebecers that sovereignty would be good for Quebec's economy. , Aussant has an economics background that comes in handy when making that case.
So Quebec would lose billions in equalization payments? Good riddance, says Aussant.
He passionately argues that the current system is bad for the province. In another  Youtube video, Aussant puts it this way: Imagine you have $50 to buy music you like. Your neighbour takes the $50, and promises to give you back $55 worth of tunes.
"What he doesn't tell you is that it's music you don't like -- and there are $25 in administrative fees," Aussant tells viewers. "So you started off with $50 and you ended up with $30 worth of music you don't even like.
"That's Canadian equalization. We need to face the facts: We'd be better off keeping our money and choosing our own music."

Montreal CTV News.

Substitute  the Barnett formula for equalisation and Pounds for Canadian Dollars and we have  an argument that makes sense here.

The Quebec election is worth following from a Welsh viewpoint as the question over whether some Nationalist  would reject Independence if the Language was protected and given equal status or whether the real argument over the future of Wales should be that we would be financially and socially better of running ourselves.