'I hear it at the dep': Outaouais voters say tariffs loom large on campaign trail

Hallie Cotnam · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 10, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Outaouais voters accidental U.S. tariffs are a fixture successful conversations astir the federal election, as the high-stakes French-language statement approaches.

Some pundits view that debate, scheduled for April 16, arsenic the biggest run trial to day for Liberal Leader and polling front-runner Mark Carney.

But tin an Anglophone with rusty French triumph successful Quebec?

CBC Ottawa checked successful with voters successful the Outaouais at the midway constituent of the national predetermination campaign.

Going into the election, astir of the province's 78 seats were held by either the Liberals or the Bloc Québécois, each with 33.

In the Outaouais, each 4 seats are held by Liberals. The nearest exception is the immense skis state of Laurentides-Labelle, good northbound of Gatineau and northwest of Montreal. That riding is held by the Bloc.

Newly-retired Anglophone Quebecer Val Miller usually votes Liberal. This time volition beryllium nary exception, but dissimilar past elections, her thoughts are connected geopolitics alternatively of Quebec's taste oregon linguistic identity.

"I'm much acrophobic with … southbound of the borderline issues affecting america than the connection issue," said Miller, whose hubby is Francophone.

Tariffs the 'flashier' topic

Emilie Lynes and her hubby Shawn Macmillan unrecorded connected the Ottawa River and privation the front-runners would walk much clip talking astir the environment. They're particularly worried about the interaction of the Chalk River atomic installation connected the wellness of the river.

Instead, they said, tariffs seem to be taking up a batch of the oxygen.

"I perceive it astatine the dep [depanneur], and I perceive it everywhere. You don't person to beryllium informed to cognize that that's happening," Lynes said.

Macmillan said societal media is focusing connected "flashier causes" alternatively of issues that are much analyzable and harder to fix.

Gatineau elector Daniel Larocque agrees.

"People are concentrating excessively overmuch connected what's going connected betwixt Trump and Canada," Larocque said.

French fluency

Mark Carney's French has figured prominently successful the campaign. Carney himself grades his bid of the connection arsenic a six retired of 10.

But Jacques Chapleau, of Luskville, Que., is more generous.

"I'll springiness him a small spot more. Seven, possibly eight," said Chapleau, who is Francophone. "His French is not atrocious astatine all. I was surprised."

Another Francophone voter, Denyse Bélec of Hull-Aylmer, would only spell arsenic precocious arsenic five.

"He's halfway there, but astatine slightest helium is trying," she said.

Despite the low grade, Bélec said she isn't bothered by Carney's linguistic mistakes, because she feels an urgency to find idiosyncratic who tin basal up to the United States.

First-time elector Jethro Irakoze of Gatineau points out that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's French needs immoderate work, too.

"Out of 10, it's a seven. Maybe six-point-five," Irakoze said, describing "English tonalities" successful Poilievre's French.

Cultural literacy

Some voters successful the Outaouais are acrophobic little astir conjugating verbs and much astir taste literacy.

Carney's run successful Quebec was fraught with gaffes. He called Quebec a "distinct society" instead of describing the state arsenic a "nation."

And the former University of Oxford goalie could not place the lone Quebecer connected Canada's squad astatine the 4 Nations Face-Off — Montreal Canadiens netminder Sam Montembeault.

Carney confused shootings at Concordia and École Polytechnique. He past got the name of his own candidate wrong, herself a subsister of the 1989 Polytechnique massacre, which claimed the lives of 14 women.

"I deliberation the Polytechnique one was a atrocious mistake, due to the fact that it's inactive precise caller successful people's minds, particularly successful Quebec, " Bélec said.

• Carney apologizes to Montreal massacre subsister moving for Liberals aft getting sanction and schoolhouse wrong
• How agelong volition Mark Carney's honeymoon successful Quebec last?

Macmillan thinks these missteps constituent to a disconnect betwixt Carney and Quebec.

"I don't cognize if helium has a existent Canadian identity," Macmillan said. "Those benignant of mistakes amusement that."

But the polls also seem to show Quebecers are successful a forgiving mood.

"He's not been successful politics. He's not adjacent lived successful this country for immoderate time, truthful for him to marque a gaffe I deliberation is human," Outaouais elector Peter Becke said. "Are immoderate of those things acceptable? Maybe not perfectly, but are they human? Yes." 

Becke is besides pleased that a Mark Carney authorities would question intervenor presumption if Quebec language instrumentality Bill 96 is ever heard by the Supreme Court. The law limits the usage of English successful Quebec, to sphere and beforehand the French language.

"Our rights should beryllium respected arsenic radical surviving successful Quebec arsenic English speakers," Becke said.

Pierre Poilievre has said helium wouldn't intervene successful Bill 96, citing Quebec's close to acceptable its ain connection laws.

And galore disagree with Becke that Carney's presumption connected Bill 96 is simply a winning one.

"I deliberation he's going to tread precise cautiously astir that topic, particularly if helium doesn't privation to upset radical connected the Quebec side," Bélec said. "You don't privation to bash thing that's going to marque radical emergence up."