GUN FIRMS WARNED ABOUT CANADA.
Trudeau Liberals clash with Legault
Tensions are rising between Ottawa and Quebec. The Trudeau government is increasingly frustrated by recent barbs thrown at it by Premier François Legault and struggles to understand Quebec’s decision to be the first province to gradually reopen all the while being the hardest hit by the COVID-19 virus.
The National Post spoke to a half-dozen sources working both in ministers’ offices and the PMO. All were granted anonymity so as to speak freely about tensions between their offices and the Quebec government.
All but one spoke of rising frustration within the Trudeau camp towards the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government.
A sixth source said that “collaboration is better than ever” between the two governments, but conceded that there had been hiccups in communications recently.
Though the relationship remains “positive overall,” the sources think the CAQ is picking fights with Ottawa to deflect attention from its failure to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in the province’s long-term care centres (known as CHSLD).
Federal sources pointed to Legault’s complaints at the beginning of the week that the federal government could have been “faster” to send the 1,000 military members the province had requested to assist CHSLD staff.
The premier claimed Tuesday that only 350 had arrived, and they had never received confirmation that Ottawa would send 1,000 members. The same day, the federal government replied that 760 soldiers were already in the province. By Friday, that number hit 1,020.
“It just doesn’t make sense, why would he pick a fight with us on that?” one high-ranking source said. “The military shouldn’t have to go help in longterm care centres in the first place, why is he blaming us for his problems? It’s purely a diversion.”
“Contrary to what you claim, the collaboration between our two governments is present and our teams have daily exchanges. Our common goals are to fight the virus, protect our citizens and support the economy. Obviously, like elsewhere in the world, nothing is perfect,” said Ewan Sauves, spokesperson for the premier.
But Legault’s complaint about the military’s deployment speed wasn’t his first “surprise” statement that irked federal staffers and ministers. In fact, most of the Trudeau government learned of Legault’s original request for 1,000 members of the Canadian Armed Forces through a press conference on April 22.
Another source later added that the federal government did receive a written request from Quebec in the form of a “two-line” email just minutes before the press conference.
“With regard to the military, I can confirm that when the premier put out his request, the federal government had indeed been informed of this request before the press conference was held,” Legault’s spokesperson said without denying any of the above details.
But the decision by Quebec that federal staff struggle to understand the most is the one to start reopening some schools and businesses early this month.
Quebec has seen more COVID-19 cases and deaths than any other province, but it also plans to reopen faster than anywhere else. As of Friday, there were 36,150 confirmed cases (more than half of the country’s total) and 2,725 deaths (of 4,471 throughout Canada) due to the virus.
There is a stark difference between rural Quebec, which has seen low to moderate levels of infections, and Montreal, which is the epicentre of the pandemic in Canada.
Thus, the city’s schools and businesses won’t be opening until later than the rest of the province (May 25 at the earliest).
Many in the Trudeau government feel the reopening is happening way too quickly.
“Does someone, somewhere (in the federal government) understand why Quebec, that has more than half of the COVID-19 deaths in the country, is the first to reopen? No.
But ever since Legault started talking about reopening, we’re hearing a lot less about the situation in CHSLD,” one source commented.
According to staff, one federal minister was shocked to hear a provincial counterpart explain in a recent conversation that the province was reopening so quickly because the “Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) is a rural government. Rural areas want to open, so we’re opening.”
The CAQ won 74 ridings in the last election, but only two were in Montreal, whereas the vast majority of their seats are in rural Quebec.
“We have said it several times: our decisions are made with the approval of Quebec Public Health. In fact, as you may have noticed (Friday), Quebec is the Canadian province with the highest unemployment rate,” Sauves commented in response to the allegations.
“This is proof that more has been done than many other provinces. We were the first in Canada to make difficult decisions related to containment, in addition to shutting down certain economic activities that others have not shut down,” he added. “We will revive the economy, gradually, if and only if the conditions are there, and always with the approval of Public Health.”
But not all is rosy in Quebec’s eyes, either. Two weeks ago, La Presse quoted provincial sources saying the province was furious about the Canada Emergency Student Benefit. Quebec sources told the news outlet that CESB would undercut the province’s ability to convince students to go work in the fields to help support the agricultural sector.
National Post
(CAQ) IS A RURAL GOVERNMENT. RURAL AREAS WANT TO OPEN, SO WE’RE OPENING.