New trap for Balarama Holness: After being stripped of the Mouvement Québec name, the Bloc Québécois want to prevent him from using “Bloc Montréal” in the fall elections.
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• Also read: Holness may not use the name “Mouvement Québec”.
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The sovereignist formation wrote to the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec (DGEQ) to challenge the provincial scene’s use of the name Bloc Montreal chosen by Balarama Holness for his political party.
“A few months before a general election in Quebec, the emergence of a political party by that name would only cause confusion, as some voters might be inclined to believe that it might be associated with our party,” writes the President of the Bloc Québécois. Johanne Deschamps, in her letter to the DGEQ, of which our Parliament Office has received a copy.
Ms Deschamps argues that the political programs of the two parties are far apart “both in terms of language and in terms of regional development or our ambitions for Québec’s future,” with similarities being established between the names of our two political formations will.
In fact, the Bloc Québécois is known for its defense of the French language and its desire to lead Quebec to independence. On the other hand, Bloc Montreal particularly defends Montreal’s English-speaking communities. During his time on the communal scene, Balarama Holness had also proposed bilingual city status for Montreal.
“Therefore, for the sake of clarity and consistency, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, we ask you not to authorize the use of this name by this new party,” Ms Deschamps writes.
Case closed, says Holness
Balarama Holness was contacted for comment and showed little concern. The DGEQ, he notes, uses the names of provincial and municipal political parties to determine if there is a risk of confusion.
“The DGEQ has already established that ‘Bloc Montreal’ does not lead to confusion with other political parties because they have endorsed our name,” he stresses.
In addition, he points out that other provincial parties have a federal equivalent without having formal ties, such as the Quebec Liberal Party and the Quebec Conservative Party.
DGEQ declined to comment on the Montreal bloc’s special filing, but confirms it takes into account the “names of provincial and municipal-level authorized parties.”
first setback
However, the file is not so simple. Earlier this summer, Balarama Holness was forced to abandon the Mouvement Québec name, following the example of his Mouvement Montréal party at the municipal level, after being challenged by France’s Mouvement Québec.
The French-language advocacy group also argued possible confusion due to the similarity between the two names.
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