Students’ Opinions on the Quebec Provincial Election

Please note that this was a convenience survey and is not necessarily representative of the entire Marianopolis student community. Thus, it should not be treated as such, but rather as handful of students’ opinions on the matter.

For most Marianopolis students, the latest provincial election was their first opportunity to exercise their constitutional right to vote on election day, landing this year on October 3rd. Therefore, we decided to ask a series of questions to see what Marianopolis students thought of this election and its results. The latter serve as a glimpse into what issues preoccupy our community the most.

Political Party Identification

The presence of five distinct political parties competing for seats within Quebec’s National Assembly is a unique and key element of this election. The presence of parties from either side of the political spectrum has, to some extent helped voters on the issue of political party identification. As it was observed in our survey, more than 83.9% of our participants were capable of identifying with a political party to various extents. Furthermore, during the course of an election campaign, political party association and voting behaviors are two pertinent variables that need to be carefully analyzed. For instance, during the 2008 presidential election, researchers from Yale University conducted an experiment that reaffirmed the correlation between party affiliation and individuals’ election night behaviours and attitudes.

Issues & Preoccupations

Our participants were similar to the general population concerning issues coining this election. In our survey, concern regarding environmental issues took first place as mentioned by most participants. This was followed by the post-pandemic healthcare system struggles, along with the negative impacts of the newly introduced linguistic Bill 96 and Bill 21 regarding religious expression. Given that both of these were tabled by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), he results of this election have major implications for minority communities that are predominantly targeted by these bills.

The Importance of Each Vote

It is no wonder that one of our fundamental duties as citizens is participating in elections by casting our votes. Ideally, all students should strongly disagree with the inaccurate myth that one vote is not going to change anything. However, the thoughts and emotions regarding that belief are nuanced and equally split amongst our participants. Many will often get discouraged from voting as we make ourselves believe that “one vote is not going to swing the result of an entire election.” However, there is significant research-based evidence debunking the statement and proving the importance of each vote in democratic practices. That is because, your vote alone may not elect directly the next Prime Minister, but if your vote joins enough others in your constituency, then your vote will certainly matter in the final results. To that effect, it should be noted that George W. Bush won the 2000 United States Presidential Election by a difference of 537 votes! Although the United States and Canada have different electoral systems, this example goes to prove how the results of an election could narrow down to just the difference of few people.

Thoughts About the Results of This Election

More than 93.5% of our participants were not happy with the outcome of this election and the remaining 6.5% were only somewhat satisfied. This rate of dissatisfaction is very similar to the differences seen between Montreal and the rest of Quebec’s election results. These sentiments of disconnection and underrepresentation are felt through numerous people’s comments about the electoral system, as one of our participants mentioned, “What’s the point of voting if it doesn’t matter how many people vote in Montreal.”

It is also worth mentioning that Montrealers were not alone in being hurt by the current electoral system. The election night left many political parties calling for a reform of the electoral system given that, for instance, the Conservative party got 12.91% of the votes yet gained no candidate at the provincial assembly.