The high point of the last few months: The abandonment of the Third Link project has changed the image that many voters had of the CAQ — and even what some CAQ-MNAs had of their own party. Something has changed.
There have been numerous failures and controversies. No one has forgotten the long lines outside the Société de l’Assurance Automobile du Québec, the government’s sudden change of direction on immigration thresholds, or the 30% salary increase recently agreed by MPs.
François Legault was fond of repeating that his government has always honored all of its commitments, but he has not adopted that formula for some time. For all his experience of parliamentary debates, the prime minister has not been at his best in recent months. His responses have all too often fueled controversy rather than mollified it, as we have seen in the Elected Officials’ Compensation File.
If the opposition parties are hoping that the government’s honeymoon is finally over, they have no cause for celebration. Despite the mistakes and setbacks, nothing really seems to threaten the dominance of the CAQ, at least for the time being. However, in the longer term, it may retain the scars of some of the wounds it inflicted on itself.
self-loyal ministers
From one year to the next, the government almost always relies on the same ministers to carry out most of its policies. Each has its qualities and its flaws, but all share a certain consistency. We know what to expect from them.
Geneviève Guilbault, MNA for Louis-Hébert, Minister for Transport and Sustainable Mobility and Deputy Prime Minister.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Sylvain Roy Roussel
The transport minister was sent to the front alone to announce the bad news on the third link. Genevieve Guilbault, comes out without too many scratches, which is not unimportant under the circumstances. One wonders, however, why she would now present a new project of the third link, a version for public transport whose prospects seem even more uncertain than those of the original project. The deputy prime minister made sure of that when the SAAQclic crisis erupted, but the same is not true of her participation in appropriation scrutiny in a parliamentary committee.
At the forefront of healthcare for three years now, Christian Dube retains its aura, which is an achievement in itself. The minister continues to work to implement bit by bit the parts of the plan he presented last spring, but the new structure he is putting in place retains the stability of a house of cards for the time being. On the dashboard, the number of patients waiting more than a year for surgery has finally come down, but other indicators are looking good. Above all, it remains to be seen how far the minister will be ready next fall to shake the pillars of the temple, as he himself promised, when the most controversial aspects of his voluminous bill are examined.
Upon request, the Minister for Economy and Energy, Peter FitzgibbonHe now has all the powers to make his wildest dreams come true. In Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec, the battery sector is gradually taking shape, although Volkswagen has chosen to build its mega-factory in Ontario. Approved twice rather than once by the ethics commissioner in recent months, the minister appears to be gradually adapting to the constraints of public life. However, the scrutiny of Hydro-Québec’s pricing reform bill, which is expected to be introduced in the fall, may only further strain Hydro-Québec’s already limited patience.
In recent months, more have been erased from public space, Sonia LeBel has the virtue of not making mistakes. The Treasury President maneuvers behind the scenes to get along with state employees, but her peers did not help her by voting for such a generous raise. However, time is of the essence as union leaders talk about crackdowns and even a strike once the school year begins.
Despite opposition from several groups and many economists, the finance minister Eric Girard lowered Quebecers’ taxes and slashed payments to the Generations Fund without making too many waves. By not raising the eligibility age for Quebec’s pension plan, he spared his government some outcry. However, the economic tightening that we feared but is still slowly setting in could make their task more difficult in the coming years.
New faces appear
Christine Fréchette, MNA for Sanguinet and Minister for Immigration, Franciscanization and Integration.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Sylvain Roy Roussel
The new ministers, who have now been in office for eight months, are making their mark one by one. This is the case for several women, starting with the new director of immigration. Although most of the work still needs to be done, Christine Frechette was able to break with the impression of disorder that had hitherto characterized the CAQ’s interventions in these files. However, to do his job well, the new incumbent will need to provide more convincing answers on temporary immigration at the consultations scheduled for September.
Sonia Belanger has done quite a good job of updating the law on end-of-life care, although it is still difficult to understand why it can take up to 24 months for it to come into force. Above all, it has managed to maintain the spirit of impartiality with which this issue has been approached in Quebec for the past fifteen years. As Minister of Health, she is rarely upset, whether it’s about the decay of CHSLDs or the abuse of the elderly.
After finding herself in Andrée Laforest’s blind spot, the housing issue seems genuinely close to the heart of the new housing minister. His solutions are not unanimous, as we saw quickly after the bill was presented, but France Elaine Duranceau seems poised to shake up the cage of an all too often neglected ministry. As his boss has often said: We’ll see.
ministers on the rise
Jean-François Roberge, MNA for Chambly, Minister for the French Language, Minister for Canadian Relations and Canadian Francophonie, Minister for Democratic Institutions, Minister for Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data and Minister for Secularism.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Sylvain Roy Roussel
After a difficult transition into training, Jean Francois Roberge seems more relaxed now. He was quite pleased with his new role as Minister for the French Language, as evidenced by the signing of an agreement on companies under federal jurisdiction with his counterpart Ginette Petitpas-Taylor. As likeable as it is, it takes more than just an advertisement for the peregrine falcon to please those concerned about the decline of French. That the measures affecting the language model state are as symbolic as they are derisive, as we have seen on social media in recent times, does not bode well.
If his time in transportation ran out a little, Francois Bonnardel is very proactive as Minister of Public Security. The many recent weather events, starting with the wildfires of the last few days, have certainly given him opportunities to shine, but the minister has also avoided the pitfalls that the reform of the police law had posed to his path.
The beginnings were difficult, however Lionel Carmant now answers the questions put to him in plenary with much more confidence. However, the need for mental health and youth protection remains immense as cities ramp up their calls for help amid rising homelessness. The minister has made a tour of the regions to ensure his policies are being implemented locally. Other ministers should do the same.
Ministers in the hot seat
Bernard Drainville, MNA for Lévis, Minister of Education and Minister responsible for the Chaudière-Appalaches region.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Sylvain Roy Roussel
A shrewd politician when he was in the Parti Québécois, Bernard Drainville has multiplied missteps since his return to politics. We often get the impression that the minister is doing too much, we think of his thunderous statement on the third link and greenhouse gases, or even the tears he shed when the project was finally abandoned. While he badly needs allies to implement his reform of the school service centers, the suggestion that the function of a teacher cannot be compared to that of a deputy was lacking in sensitivity.
Minister of Justice, a function that is inherently more apolitical, Simon Jolin Barrette is less visible than when he was dealing with identity issues. Although he was able to push through his family law reform, he still embarrassed his party by appointing a friend whose marriage he had celebrated to judge. It’s certainly important to protect the identities of candidates for the judiciary, but the process still seems particularly opaque. In a dispute with the chief justice of the Quebec court, the minister managed to agree with her on the number of judge posts to be created, but the controversy is unlikely to end until Lucie Rondeau’s mandate arrives at the end of the year.
Eric Cairo is unlikely to be primarily responsible for the setbacks SAAQ has suffered, but the detachment he displayed while thousands of Quebecers waited in the cold is puzzling. The recklessness with which he ignored his promise to resign if the Third Link project were abandoned made no better impression. His own colleagues do not hesitate behind the scenes to question his presence in the Council of Ministers. However, there is no doubt how important it is to have a strong commander at the helm of the Department of Cybersecurity and Digital as the government prepares to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in IT restructuring projects that are as dangerous as necessary like.
Show yourself from the back seat
As former MEP Émilie Foster recently lamented in a text, too little is said about elected ministers who do not have the privilege of sitting in the cabinet. However, some manage to stand out.
This applies in particular to the member for Beauce-Sud, Samuel Poulin, who rightly took the trouble to reply to his former colleague in an open letter highlighting the contribution of MEPs (New window) on the ground. His questions, which he well directed to the Autonomous Educational Association in the parliamentary committee, also attracted attention.
Although he would no doubt have preferred to sit at the cabinet table, the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health, Youri Chassin, also enjoys some visibility. With the project entrusted to him by the Prime Minister to build private mini-hospitals, he could finally prove that the ideas he has been promoting for years are actually suitable for improving access to healthcare.
In a completely different register, Nancy Guillemette distinguished himself for his contribution to updating the Law on End-of-Life Care. The Roberval member is certainly a discreet woman, but she did not hesitate to defend the behavior of the President of the School Service Center after he was publicly criticized by Minister Bernard Drainville.
Meanwhile, another elected official who has already managed to be expelled from the Council of Ministers continues to cause trouble. In a single public appearance the former minister Pierre Dufour happened to speak ill of the media, the town of Val-d’Or and the Viens Commission, provoking the ire of the Aboriginal communities in his area. His belated apology did not convince many people.
Unconvincing objections
Marc Tanguay, interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Jacques Boissinot
Although the past few months have been particularly difficult for the government, opposition parties are still struggling to hold their own with voters.
After a difficult start last autumn Marc Tanguay gradually takes his place at the head of the Liberal Party of Quebec. The opposition leader is sometimes funny, sometimes theatrical, but finding the common thread that connects his interventions is particularly difficult. That’s because the PLQ is still searching for itself, as demonstrated by the debates on Quebec nationalism during the last General Assembly of Civic Education.
In the Chamber, the Liberals had some success in portraying the CAQ as a chaotic government forced to back down on empty promises, but the inexperience of a large number of elected officials is evident. Within the caucus, Marwah Rizqy remains a step ahead of his peers in both form and content, but little by little new faces are making their way, such as MPs Frédéric Beauchemin, Michelle Setlakwe and Virginie Dufour.
Despite well-advised interventions in several acts and a key win at halftime in Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne, Québec Solidaire is still struggling to find the right tone. The party now has more speaking time and more human and financial resources, but this does not necessarily lead to more public resonance. The debate over elected officials’ salaries presented the party with a golden opportunity to shine, but MPs failed to agree in advance what they would do with the money they would receive.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois continues to shine in the group, but his eloquence most of all highlights the shortcomings of his own colleagues. None of them have made such an impression as a Catherine Dorion. The upcoming race to find Manon Massé’s successor could be an opportunity to revitalize the party. Ruba Ghazal and Émilise Lessard-Therrien, who have already expressed interest, and Christine Labrie, who is in the process of reflection, all have great potential.
That the Parti Québécois is able to gain so much visibility with just three MEPs is an achievement in itself. serious and strict, Paul St-Pierre PlamondonPascal Bérubé and Joël Arseneau are already moving forward, but a lot of work will still be needed for their party to actually become the second political force in Quebec, as their activists hope.
After years of searching for itself, the PQ is now the opposition party with the clearest strategic positioning, which serves it well. The latest polls are certainly encouraging, but to be honest, keeping up the pace until the next election with so few resources is likely to be exhausting.
A star for the President
The President of the National Assembly, Nathalie Roy.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Jacques Boissinot
Despite the mixed response to her appointment, the Speaker of the National Assembly was amazed at the determination with which she directed parliamentary work. A far cry from the all too often pompous approach of some of his predecessors, Nathalie Roy appears as down-to-earth as possible.
As House Speakers with hypersensitive skin have learned first-hand, when we’re offended for nothing, the President quickly moves on to the next call. When the government asked her to ban the use of the word “draft,” she replied that a certain level of criticism was acceptable in a democracy. For example, you can be a rather average minister, but make up for it by becoming a very good President of the National Assembly.