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As leader of Coalition avenir Quebec, the party he founded in 2011, Legault now says his government will “never, never hold a referendum on Quebec sovereignty.”

His party has led the polls for months and is considered the front-runner ahead of the Oct. 1 election.

Referendums aside, what his party would mean for Quebec’s Anglos is largely unclear because the Coalition has never held power.

“A horse doesn’t change its colour,” Liberal voter Mohan Patel, 66, said at the Fairview Pointe-Claire shopping centre, located virtually in the geographical middle of the West Island. “I don’t trust (Legault).”

Legault must know he needs more than words to persuade a significant number of Anglophones to switch to his party, but whether he cares is another matter.

Pollsters say the Coalition can win a majority of the province’s 125 seats without taking any of the 27 ridings on the island of Montreal, where the province’s English-speaking community is heavily concentrated.

Legault openly muses he has absolutely “nothing” specific to offer Quebec’s Anglos.

“Nothing more, nothing less than the Liberals,” he said recently.

“All the Liberals have proposed Anglophones is that they wouldn’t hold a referendum — that’s not much of a policy.”

If elected, Legault pledges to improve the economy and education and increase access to doctors.

“We’ll protect (Anglo) rights like the Liberals have, but we’ll be richer … that’s as good for Anglos as it is for Francos,” he said.