Conservatives’ Éric Duhaime ready to debate in English, even without Legault

The English-language debate was canceled after Premier François Legault and Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon opted out.

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Conservative Party of Quebec leader Éric Duhaime is inviting Quebec Liberal Party leader Dominique Anglade to take part in an English-language debate during the next election, even if Premier François Legault doesn’t participate.

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Duhaime says he believes Quebec’s English-speaking community deserves to have its own debate to address the issues that are important to the community, including health care, education and language issues.

On Friday, an English-language media consortium decided to cancel its planned debate, scheduled for Sept. 20, after Legault and Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said they wouldn’t participate.

The consortium explained without the presence of all major parties, it would be impossible to present a “fair and informative” debate.

But Duhaime says the English-speaking population shouldn’t pay for certain parties’ decisions. He believes the parties who wish to do so should have the opportunity to debate in English.

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At least one English-language media outlet says it would be willing to hold a debate without Legault, as long as Anglade agrees to take part as well.

If Anglade agrees to participate, the organizers would be willing to send out new requests to all parties, including the Parti Québécois and the Coalition Avenir Québec, if they wish to reconsider their decision.

On Friday, Legault’s press attaché said preparing for debates takes a lot of time, and that the premier had already committed to debating the other party leaders on TVA and Radio-Canada in French.

But Duhaime said the way he sees it, after preparing for two debates, the additional time required to prepare for an English debate wouldn’t be so substantial.

Instead, Duhaime accused Legault of wanting to limit the debates in the run-up to an election in which he is heavily favoured. Duhaime recalled Legault participated in an English-language debate during the 2018 election campaign.

He feels the opposition parties could even benefit from Legault’s absence since they would have more visibility, something they struggled to get during the pandemic.