Cleaning up fake news, checking politicians’ statements, finding real numbers: Our Bureau of Investigation, based in Montreal and Quebec, specializes in the art of fact-finding. Every Saturday, our journalists and researchers bring you their findings so you can see more clearly on the week’s news.
THE STATEMENT
In recent weeks, the Parti Québécois has shared posters and photos on social media showing mistakes in the names of two horse farms in Bas-Saint-Laurent. On Twitter, candidate Samuel Ouellet shows that he is running in the provincial elections in Rimouski-Neigette.
For his part, outgoing MP Pascal Bérubé poses in front of a Parti Québécois lectern called Matane-Matapédia-Mitis. Additionally, in an Aug. 17 Twitter post, the PQ said: “If I’m re-elected I will be reaching out to @electionsquebec [Élections Québec] that the name of the constituency should be changed. It’s a matter of respect for the citizens of La Mitis. »
FACTS
The PQ is confused several times in not one but two county names. First of all, Rimouski-Neigette is not a provincial rider, but the name of a regional municipality of Bas-Saint-Laurent. At the federal level, the riding is Rimouski-Neigette-Témiscouata-Les Basques. Pascal Bérubé is more represented in Matane-Matapédia.
Via email, the PQ explains that Samuel Ouellet is using Rimouski-Neigette so the name is more representative of the county, while Pascal Bérubé recently pledged to change the name of the riding if he is re-elected.
– Nicolas Brewer
The number of the week: 45,555
This is the number of Quebecers who speak an Aboriginal language as their first language, according to census data released Wednesday. This corresponds to 0.5% of the province’s population.
About 13,200 of them speak Inuktitut, 11,800 speak Cree, 7,730 speak Innu and 6,160 speak Atikamekw. We also find iyiyiw-ayimiwin, spoken by 3,510 people since birth, and anicinabemowin, by 1,110 people.
– Karl Matthew
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