Bloc leader calls Conservative platform ‘hocus pocus’
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet is asked about Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s promise of referendums on any new federal taxes. Blanchet said it sounds expensive, but making referendums normal in general is a ‘pretty good idea.’
I’m a senior reporter following the Bloc Québécois campaign this week.
If politics is theatre, then entertainment industry veteran Yves-François Blanchet really leaned into his roots during this morning’s news conference.
While mocking Carney’s speech, Blanchet imitated a hypnotist’s cadence. “Your eyelids are getting heavy; you like fossil fuels,” he repeated three times in answer to a question about whether the national interest supersedes Blanchet’s proposal to protect all Quebec environmental laws from federal infringement.
Fielding another query about the newly released Conservative platform, he accused it of “hocus pocus,” and said, “Elon Musk, sors de ce corps,” likening the Conservatives’ cuts to the controversial DOGE initiative south of the border (the rhyme does not quite translate smoothly into English, but it is effectively an exorcist’s chant urging the American billionaire to leave a body).
But the biggest magic trick Blanchet will have to pull off is still ahead of him — urging as many Quebecers as possible to check BQ at the ballot box. Polls have had him on a slight upswing this week, but even with the bump, the CBC Poll Tracker still projects 10 Bloc seats could disappear.
