Couillard switches to campaign mode as caucus wraps up
Premier says political opponents are mired in another century
VAL-D’OR With one year to go before the next election, Premier Philippe Couillard says he’s starting to spruce up his government and party to counter its image as a tired old regime ready for the dustbin.
Sounding like he’s ready to do battle, Couillard used a Friday news conference closing a two-day Liberal caucus to say he is ready for the future, while his political opponents are mired in another century, pitching old recipes and more interested in dividing Quebecers.
Quebecers in the next election will have a choice between transformation and stagnation, he said.
He was particularly acerbic toward François Legault, leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec, the party considered the Liberals’ main threat after close to 14 years in power. The CAQ has already started to sell itself as the party of change, a powerful force with voters.
“If there’s a fracture in our society, he (Legault) wants to put a knife in, play with it and make it even more painful,” Couillard said in reference to the CAQ’s penchant for flogging the identity issue and calling for lower immigration levels.
“In reality … how many people with niqabs have you seen recently? It’s certainly not the priority of citizens. This is not the way you do politics. You do politics with values and principles. You don’t do politics on polls and saying what you think people want to hear.”
As for Parti Québécois leader Jean-François Lisée — who will campaign in 2018 on a promise to not hold a referendum in a first mandate — Couillard noted Lisée recently launched a fresh advertising campaign built around the theme of 50 answers on independence.
“If you look at their (Legault and Lisée’s) political career, the way they propose their policies, it’s all old recipes, old things which we already heard,” Couillard said. “I’m talking about a much deeper level of transformation than them.
“We can classify political actors in many ways. There are those who are for stagnation and those who are for change. Transformation is another thing.
“But think about it. My two main political adversaries come from the last century. When did they come into politics? The last century. We are here for the present and the future.”
Lisée entered politics as an MNA in 1994 and Legault in 1998. Couillard was elected in 2003, becoming the province’s health minister. Couillard turned 60 June 26. Legault is already 60 while Lisée is 59. At 27, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, coleader of Québec solidaire, could be one of their sons.
“I’m talking about political life,” Couillard said. “Mr. Legault arrived in politics in 1998, 20 years ago. Is that change? Is that modernity?
It’s unclear where Couillard was going with the theme, but it fit the “newness” message he spun the last few days in AbitibiTémiscamingue, a region rich in natural resources, including gold, but which suffers a chronic lack of workers.
In fact, one of three local McDonald’s restaurants here recently had to shut down because of staffing problems, a fact Couillard mentioned to illustrate Quebec’s need for more workers and a steady hand on the economy levers only his team can provide.
He opened the caucus saying he wanted his government to take on a “different style,” and said it was among the reasons he replaced his chief of staff, Jean-Louis Dufresne, with Jean-Pascal Bernier, who stood quietly in the back of the news conference room.
But his comments also set out the battle lines for the coming session of the legislature, which resumes sitting next Tuesday. The government has plenty on its plate.
Quebec has promised to table legislation on how it will apply the federal government’s new marijuana law this fall and a good part of the caucus was spent discussing what that bill will contain. There was no final decision, Couillard reported, adding the government now is aiming to table an orientation paper first.
Couillard conceded Quebecers are worried about the sweeping social effects of more pot in their world.
“They need to be reassured — especially on how this affects their youth,” Couillard said. “They are asking the government to handle this above all from the angle of health and safety.”
The government has also promised to get moving on other bills left hanging in June, including Bill 62 on state neutrality, Bill 133 on police uniforms and Bill 128 banning certain breeds of dogs.
Couillard has not ruled out a cabinet shuffle sometime soon, while Finance Minister Carlos Leitão mentioned this week Quebecers might get a tax cut before the end of the mandate.
But Couillard argued the Liberals have already put more money into the pockets of Quebecers ($510) by abolishing the unpopular health-services tax.
Sitting on massive surpluses after the lean years, Couillard said the government’s focus will more likely be on providing “stable and predictable” funding for the health and education sectors.
He closed his news conference by returning to the labour issue, describing Legault’s repeated calls to reduce Quebec’s immigration levels as “anti-economic” because Quebec needs labour.
“We’re short of people in Quebec,” Couillard said. “Immigration is one of the essential solutions. It’s not the only solution, but it’s one of the indispensable ones.”