According to a survey commissioned by Éric Duhaime, Quebecers consider it acceptable for drag queen activities to be organized with children.
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The Léger Poll, commissioned by the Quebec Conservative Party, shows that 50% of Quebecers agree, while only 37% believe this type of activity is not appropriate for children. 13% of respondents did not comment.
The survey also shows that Quebecers are divided on whether it is acceptable for public funds to be used for educational activities, such as reading stories in libraries: 46% see no problem, while 42% think it is unacceptable.
However, 59% of respondents believe that parental consent should be mandatory for participation in such activities.
On this basis, the Conservative Party issued a press release boasting that “a majority of Quebecers support the position of the Quebec Conservative Party”.
At a press conference on Thursday, Éric Duhaime made more nuanced remarks, stressing that “the questions asked by the Léger company are questions that are very neutral,” before highlighting the transparency he is showing. “All questions will be published today. We didn’t randomly pick a few questions because they suited our company,” he said.
He then denounced the “unanimity” of elected members of the National Assembly on the issue, again criticizing a motion that all MPs had passed in early April.
This motion stated that reading stories from drag queens “exposures children to differences” and that “this will help make Quebec an example in promoting equality and justice for gender-plural communities around the world make”.
The Conservatives then launched a petition demanding that the government stop funding activities that expose children to drag queens and that parental consent must be mandatory. According to Mr. Duhaime, this petition would have garnered 40,000 signatures.
When asked if parental consent was not already required for participation in these activities, the Conservative leader replied: “I thought so too, but over time we realized (…) that there are indeed schools and day care centers where this has happened.”
During the press conference, Éric Duhaime also reiterated his discomfort with drag queens reading stories to children. “You won’t read Little Red Riding Hood,” he said, saying he was concerned that “kids aged 3 to 6” were being told about “gender theory.”
methodology
The web poll was conducted between April 21 and 23 among 1,006 Quebecers aged 18 and older. It is not possible to calculate a margin of error for a sample from a panel, but for comparison, the margin of error for such a sample is +/-3.1%, 19 times out of 20.