The Québec election is not a referendum

It's only a few days into the election campaign and already Charest's Liberals have begun fear-mongering that a Parti Québécois victory will lead to a referendum on the national question. The Liberals' focus on a referendum reveals their strategy of distracting voters from what should be the main issues of this election: jobs, social justice and cleaning up government corruption.

During its nine years in government, the PLQ has proven that it is incapable of staying accountable to the people of the province, opting instead to build divisive politics. The PLQ's decision to not invest in the province's social infrastructure and instead increase tuition fees, despite wide-scale student and popular opposition, is only one example.

As a unilingual Anglophone who lives in Québec and loves it to pieces, I see through Charest's tactics. What is important in this election is that we restore good governance and re-establish social justice as a core priority.

The election is not a referendum on the national question. This election is our chance to see beyond wedge politics and to throw out a party not worthy of our support.

Part of this letter appeared in the Montreal Gazette.