National Assembly in recess; election tango in full swing
QUEBEC As the province enters what will be a long pre-electoral tango, Premier Philippe Couillard has cranked up his defence saying attempts to link his government to the dubious ethics of the previous Liberal regime are “completely unacceptable.”
But the opposition says it sees right through Couillard’s electoral game plan, including recent overtures to the Englishspeaking community.
If Couillard is being nice to anglophones so late in his mandate, it’s because he knows the community is angry and might stay home election day rather than vote Liberal, Parti Québécois Leader Jean François Lisée ventured.
With MNAs packing their bags to return to working in their ridings as the National Assembly recesses for the summer, all three opposition parties used their end of session news conferences to attack the Liberals and their record — current and way past, including the days when Jean Charest was leader.
On that front a combative Couillard — who insisted his government has put Quebec on the right track since being elected in 2014 — refuted all association with the practices of the past.
“Since I became leader of the party, in March 2013, and since I became premier in 2014, there has been nothing (on the ethical side), no concrete elements,” Couillard said standing surrounded by a dozen of his cabinet ministers at an end-of-session news conference.
“So to say people were present in another era and that, by association, they are guilty of anything at all, is completely unacceptable.
“I defy anyone to name a situation, an event or an incident (in his time) which did not meet the highest ethical standards.”
He refused to comment on a La Presse report Thursday that said Charest, in May 2014, volunteered to testify before the Charbonneau commission into collusion and corruption in the construction industry only to be told by the commission it would not be necessary.
A Charest associate said the former premier is unhappy the commission wasn’t transparent enough to say in public that he was ready to testify.
Charest, premier from 2003 to 2012, is under investigation by the province’s anti-corruption unit over a transition allowance he received when he left federal politics to run provincially.
But after a long and tumultuous winter sitting of the legislature — one marked by record levels of rancour — trust is in short supply and it shows.
Coalition Avenir Québec leader François Legault kicked off the end-of-session festivities by bluntly saying he does not trust Couillard to respect the province’s fixed date election law.
That law says the next general election in Quebec is Oct. 1, 2018 but Legault said he remembers what happened in 2012 when Charest said there would be no fall election and then called one in the middle of August.
“A Liberal is a Liberal,” Legault said, adding he’s taking no chances and has asked his party to be ready as soon as Aug. 15 this year.
Legault, in fact, emerges from this session with a bounce in his step following two polls — including one by Mainstreet for the Montreal Gazette — showing the CAQ is soaring in public opinion. The party’s strategy to make Legault less visible and put his team more out front appears to have helped.
Legault conceded he has work to do on the island of Montreal, where the CAQ holds zero seats, but argued anglophones, like francophones, can see the Liberal government is worn out after almost 15 years in power.
The same good standing cannot be said for the PQ’s Lisée, who at his own news conference, faced questions about what didn’t go right in the last few months.
The PQ ends the session sitting third in the polls and licking its wounds after the other left-wing party, Québec solidaire, spurned its offer of an electoral pact.
Emboldened QS MNAs Manon Massé and the newly elected Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois went so far as to say Friday they are ready to form a new progressive government, which is what the PQ is supposed to be about.
Lisée, however, was ready with a dozen reasons to explain to why he is being outflanked on the left and the right by the CAQ. Legault, in fact, said he considers the Liberals his only real opponents.
Lisée warned reporters not to get excited about a few polls because the PQ is outperforming the CAQ at the level of membership and fundraising and the CAQ’s share of the vote has slipped in 10 of 14 byelections.
He repeated that people have been predicting the demise of the PQ for years and it is still around.
He also commented on Couillard’s overtures to the Englishspeaking community in an interview in the Montreal Gazette Thursday by saying it’s a sign the Liberals are in full panic.
“He’s (Couillard) beginning to realize that anglos in Quebec are angry at the Liberal government and are fed up with being taken for granted and are fed up with being given crumbs,” Lisée said. “He squandered his reputation.”
By the time Couillard’s news conference took place, the premier was ready to face just about any question.
“I don’t know what hat that popped out of,” Couillard said when asked about an early election. “We created a fixed-date election law, the elections will be on the date foreseen.”
He repeated he has no plans in the short term to shuffle his cabinet, although there is widespread speculation Couillard could shake up things in late August before the legislature resumes sitting.
The Liberals end the session looking good, with low unemployment, a third balanced budget and fresh spending in health and education. Couillard said 700,000 more Quebecers have access to a family doctor and 14 superclinics are being opened.
Couillard has earned praise for his handling of the January shootings at the Quebec City mosque and the spring flooding.
But there were tough times, such as the bungled handling of the Highway 13 snowstorm and allegations of corruption involving former Liberals, which tarnished the party brand.
“Politics is never a long tranquil river,” Couillard said, adding despite problems he’s focused on bringing good news on government actions to the four corners of Quebec.
He responded to Lisée’s accusations of trying to butter up the anglophone community.
“Why all this now?” an English-language media reporter asked. “Because first it’s my duty,” Couillard responded. “Second because I believe in it.”
The session nevertheless ended with several significant pieces of legislation being adopted — mostly at the last minute. At the top of the list is Bill 122 giving Quebec municipalities more powers, including the means to legally drop the requirement to hold referendums on their zoning decisions.
After nine years of sitting on the table in various forms, Bill 113 — allowing adopted children to trace their origin, even if their biological parents have passed away — was adopted, as was Bill 98, designed to remove obstacles for immigrants seeking status in professional associations.
The house did not have time to adopt Bill 128, banning dangerous dogs, and Bill 138, banning police from wearing camouflage pants. Bill 137, the bill creating a framework for Montreal’s new electric train, will also have to wait.