{"id":1177,"date":"2014-04-02T16:19:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T16:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rf.podcastfixit.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/02\/reluctant-federalist-briefly-becomes\/"},"modified":"2015-06-01T19:41:14","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T19:41:14","slug":"reluctant-federalist-briefly-becomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/04\/02\/reluctant-federalist-briefly-becomes\/","title":{"rendered":"Reluctant federalist briefly becomes Verdun election issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tracey Arial<\/b>
www.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite announcements by election candidates about potential investments in schools (Parti qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois),<\/i> hospitals (Liberal), social housing (Qu\u00e9bec solidaire<\/i> and Coalition pour l’avenir du Qu\u00e9bec)<\/i> and bridges (all parties), the person who got the most attention in the riding of Verdun last week was Mary Ann Davis.<\/p>\n

Davis is an Anglophone, a union organizer, a housing activist, a lesbian and a feminist. She was also a borough mayoralty candidate in the municipal election last year and she lost to current mayor Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Parenteau.<\/p>\n

Last week, she became Verdun\u2019s most prominent federalist too, although she doesn\u2019t feel comfortable carrying the mantle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t even call myself a federalist,\u201d says Davis. \u201cI\u2019m not a sovereignist either, but I\u2019m sympathetic to the cause. Do I want Quebec to separate? No. Do they have the right to organize to do so? Of course. Why do we have to be one or the other? There\u2019s a spectrum. I don\u2019t feel like a federalist, but I\u2019m not a sovereignist.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the current provincial election was called, Davis volunteered to manage the election campaign for Rosa Pires, the Verdun candidate for Qu\u00e9bec solidaire.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI went with Rosa because of the charter,\u201d said Davis. \u201cShe did a lot of work against the charter and that\u2019s why I wanted to help her win. Her analysis on it was really poignant and her leadership of the Groupe des souverainistes<\/i> against the charter thrilled me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pires happily accepted her offer. She knew that Davis was unsure about sovereignty but neither thought it would become a campaign issue.<\/p>\n

For her part, Davis has always been comfortable working closely with people who are for an independent Quebec. \u201cEven the way Qu\u00e9bec solidaire<\/i> was presenting sovereignty\u2014I was okay with that,\u201d she said. \u201cThose of us who don\u2019t believe in sovereignty in the separatist parties just figure that if there\u2019s a referendum, we\u2019ll just vote no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pires\u2019 and Davis\u2019 comfortable working alliance broke when Davis posted a note on Facebook at 5 p.m. last Tuesday night. She accused Verdun mayor Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Parenteau of campaigning with PQ candidate Loraine Pintal.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nShe finished her French language post with: \u201cHey, you anglos of Verdun. What do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n

Then her cell phone died.<\/p>\n

\n
The post went viral on social media. Davis didn\u2019t see the firestorm her post created for five hours. By the time she plugged her phone in again, Qu\u00e9bec solidaire<\/i> organizers were asking her to remove the post and angry members were sending her hate mail accusing her of being a \u2018federalist saboteur.\u2019<\/p>\n

By then, she too regretted her hasty comment, which she couldn\u2019t prove anyway. <\/p>\n

It was too late. The damage to her reputation was already done and she spent the rest of the week facing criticism and anger on Facebook, in Twitter and on blogs. Davis resigned from the Qu\u00e9bec solidaire<\/i> campaign, but she also got scared and refused to leave her home for two days.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Verdun Mayor Jean Francois Parenteau denies Davis\u2019 accusation outright. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big joke!\u201d he responded by cell phone. \u201cI never made campaign with anybody. Do you think I have time for that?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cBut, I\u2019m always open to discuss Verdun with all candidates. I have seen Lorraine Pintal and Jacques Daoust last Friday at my office.
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By Tracey Arialwww.thesuburban.com Despite announcements by election candidates about potential investments in schools (Parti qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois), hospitals (Liberal), social housing (Qu\u00e9bec solidaire and Coalition pour l’avenir du Qu\u00e9bec) and bridges (all parties), the person who got the most attention in the riding of Verdun last week was Mary Ann Davis. Davis is an Anglophone, a union organizer,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nReluctant federalist briefly becomes Verdun election issue - Newscoverage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newscoverage.org\/index.php\/2014\/04\/02\/reluctant-federalist-briefly-becomes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reluctant federalist briefly becomes Verdun election issue - Newscoverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Tracey Arialwww.thesuburban.com Despite announcements by election candidates about potential investments in schools (Parti qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois), hospitals (Liberal), social housing (Qu\u00e9bec solidaire and Coalition pour l’avenir du Qu\u00e9bec) and bridges (all parties), the person who got the most attention in the riding of Verdun last week was Mary Ann Davis. 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