Bonjour-Hi debacle a bad omen for Liberals’ 2018 campaign

Controversy exposed weaknesses in premier that bode ill for campaign

Throw Sun Tzu out the window; in politics, contrary to what the ancient Chinese military strategist says in the classic The Art of War, the battle is no longer won before it is fought. Elections now are decided in the official campaign itself.

For Quebec party leaders, that campaign lasts 33 physically and mentally gruelling days. That’s a long time for them to have to think on their feet under pressure in media scrums, interviews and debates.

But it also doesn’t leave them much time to recover from a misstep that can cause a party’s campaign to spin out of control for several days.

That’s why Quebec Liberals should be worried about the poor instincts and reflexes of the general they will be following into electoral battle in 10 months, exposed again in the “Bonjour-Hi” controversy.

Parti Québécois Leader Jean-François Lisée can brag all he wants that he trapped Premier Philippe Couillard with his National Assembly motion against the English part of the bilingual greeting.

The truth is, as Lisée’s former boss Jacques Parizeau used to say, Couillard “self-banana-peelized.”

You see, Lisée’s was a “motion without notice,” which requires the Assembly’s unanimous consent to be considered.

So, the Liberals could have killed the motion without debate or a vote by withholding their consent — which happens to opposition motions all the time. Not a single vote 10 months from now would have changed.

Couillard had dismissed the “Bonjour-Hi” issue as “ridiculous.” So, it was astonishing when, in the question period before Lisée was to propose his motion, Couillard began to negotiate its wording with the PQ leader.

When Lisée accepted his suggestion for a minor change, Couillard had no choice but to support the motion. This forced his MNAs, voting one-by-one, either to follow in step, or to break ranks publicly with their leader.

Even though it has no legal effect, English-speaking Quebecers immediately felt as a slap in the face the provincial legislature’s unanimous adoption of even a symbolic motion against the public use of their language.

And they saw the Liberals’ vote for it as a betrayal by the party that most of them support, and in particular by the anglo MNAs.

They had long felt like voiceless electoral captives of a party that has taken them for granted, and their pentup frustration boiled over.

To put out a fire, first stop adding fuel. Instead, Couillard and his English-speaking MNAs fed this one for more than a week, with insensitive remarks that to anglos confirmed that the Liberals were out of touch with their most loyal supporters.

Kathleen Weil, Couillard’s new minister for anglos, became a casualty, appearing to lose the confidence of her ministerial constituency.

Couillard himself was somehow surprised that anglos did not take well to being told by their elected representatives that their language should not be heard in public.

He deplored that Quebec’s image was being damaged by a controversy that he himself had created.

He told Aaron Rand of CJAD radio he supported the motion because he was afraid he would be called soft on French in the Quebec media if he didn’t (he would be anyway, and was). He implied he had been brave to risk criticism for speaking English in the Assembly (there was none).

And he complained that anglos lacked “empathy” for how hard life is for a federalist Quebec government. To put it bluntly, pity the premier, shut up, and keep voting Liberal.

Results of the first poll since the controversy suggest that it hasn’t cost the Liberals anglo support. Then again, what were anglos going to do? Switch to one of the other parties against “Bonjour-Hi”?

But watching Couillard turn what should have been at most a one-day wonder into a controversy lasting more than a week, I thought of next year’s election campaign. And I felt sorry, not for him, but for the Liberal candidates running behind him.