Abstract
In 2013–2014, the Parti Québécois’ (PQ) Québec Charter of Values was hotly debated in the province of Quebec and the rest of Canada. For some Canadians, it was seen as a calculated move from the PQ to win a majority in the next provincial election, highlighting the stereotypical Quebec citizen’s aversion towards immigrants. For others, it was an important policy that confirmed the secular status of Quebec. The media played a large role in depicting the average Charter supporter. The goal of this study is to empirically test the claims regarding the sociodemographic profile of the Charter’s supporters. Using opinion poll data, we demonstrate that most of these assumptions were false, and that the nature of the support evolved during the debate.
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Notes
The specific questions for each of the variables are available in Appendix A.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank CROP for the data, and the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture for its financial support.
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Appendix A
Appendix A
Appendix: Questions
Vote intention: If a provincial election were held today in Quebec, which of the following parties would you vote for? Would it be …
Age: Which of the following age groups do you belong to?
Education: What is the highest level of education that you have completed?
Income: In which of the following categories would you put the total annual income, before taxes and deductions, of all members of your household, including yourself?
Language: What is your mother tongue, that is, the first language you learned and can still speak?
Gender: Are you a man or a woman?
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Tessier, C., Montigny, É. Untangling myths and facts: Who supported the Québec Charter of Values?. Fr Polit 14, 272–285 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/fp.2016.1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/fp.2016.1