Legault refuses to apologize for wife’s remarks
CAQ leader does damage control after audio of Brais criticizing PM emerges
TADOUSSAC Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault wouldn’t say on Wednesday whether he thinks Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is competent.
Legault faced questions about his opinion on Trudeau after an audio recording of Isabelle Brais, Legault’s wife, speaking at a precampaign event in Westmount was obtained by several media organizations, including the Montreal Gazette.
Brais took questions from the audience at the Aug. 14 event, billed as an information session about the CAQ for anglophones.
At one point, an audience member said the Canadian Constitution should be reopened — to get Quebec to sign on so “that Canada is one country.”
“It’s not going to be possible with Justin Trudeau,” Brais replied. “His father was brilliant, but he’s not.”
Legault said he’s not in a position to judge which Trudeau is smarter — and did not directly answer questions about whether he thinks Trudeau is competent.
“What is important is Quebecers would like to have more responsibility in immigration, language, culture, and I think that if many Quebecers want that, then anybody in Ottawa will have to listen,” he said.
Legault said he wouldn’t apologize for his wife’s comments.
“She’s independent, she has her opinions and she said also that she’s sorry,” Legault said.
During the event, Brais described herself as a Quebec nationalist — saying that, for her, “means Quebec first, within Canada.”
“Let’s talk about the beauty of Quebec, the beauty of the people, the beauty of the English people, the beauty of the French people,” she said. “We are different. We are not coming from Saskatchewan. Have you been to Saskatchewan? It’s almost the United States in a way.”
Asked what he thought about Saskatchewan, Legault said, “I think that Saskatchewan was at the beginning of the medical program we have now. I prefer to live in Montreal, like many anglophones.”
One attendee praised Daniel Johnson Sr.’s approach to language rights and said, “We don’t need anglophone ministries,” presumably a reference to the Quebec secretariat for anglophone relations.
“I don’t see why,” Brais said, agreeing with the speaker. “It’s insulting.”
Legault denied that the comments about the secretariat and English Canada would hurt the CAQ’s appeal with anglos.
“What I understand about that evening is that the anglophone community that was there was mostly an agreement with her,” he said in French.
While Brais is travelling with Legault’s campaign, she would not speak about her comments to reporters on Wednesday.
LEGAULT ‘CLARIFIES’ FAMILY ALLOWANCE PLAN
For days, Legault has highlighted a campaign “promise” — giving parents a family allowance payment of $2,400 for every child.
On Sunday, while campaigning in Gatineau, he made it the central part of a sales pitch to parents: “Please go and vote to get this $2,400 per child,” Legault said.
Later that same day, during a speech to supporters in Maniwaki, he said it again.
“We’re talking about giving $2,400 per child, a new family allowance,” he said.
But on Wednesday, Legault said payments of $2,400 per child were never what he was actually promising, instead, it is payments of up to $2,400 per child.
Quebec’s child assistance program currently give parents between $682 and $2,430 a year for their first child. But payments drop to a maximum of $1,214 for a second and third child (it rises to $1,821 for a fourth child and subsequent children).
The CAQ would replace that with a new program that would see parents get the same per-child payment no matter how many children they have. The plan would come into effect over the course of a CAQ mandate, if the party is elected.
Asked about it, Legault doesn’t hesitate. “It’s graduated,” he said.
But if it’s not for everyone, why does he keep repeating the $2,400 per child figure?
“It’s a maximum amount of $2,400,” he responds.
The details, he said, were always in a document handed out when he made the promise.
A post on the French version of the party’s website does say the full payments will be available to families with household incomes of $107,000 or less. It does not appear on the English site.