In 2011, the image had enraged the entourage of Pauline Marois. Its deputy Bernard Drainville posed in the headline of the To have tofists clenched in prayer, imploring some superior being to prevent the death of the Parti Québécois.
Posted at 10:16 a.m.
A decade later, it is he who delivers the coup de grace. By joining the Coalition avenir Québec, he made the same calculation as others before him: his former party was dying. So he jumps into the emergency vehicle, the CAQ, to practice defensive nationalism. By proposing not more freedom for Quebec, but rather the protection of what still exists.
This calculation is the one already made by Manuel Dionne and Stéphane Gobeil, his two close collaborators from the PQ era of the charter of values, who work in the office of Prime Minister Legault.
They take the risk of making the CAQ pass for a party of crypto-PQ members. But it is still indeed a coalition, as evidenced by the federalist and wheeler-dealer wing formed, among others, by Pierre Fitzgibbon, Eric Girard and Sonia LeBel.
I met Mr. Drainville when I was a parliamentary reporter in Quebec City in 2011. I also worked on his radio show at 98.5 FM. His return to politics does not surprise me.
Last fall, it was rumored that he was running for the CAQ during the by-election in Marie-Victorin. He swore to me that was not the case. But obviously it was only a matter of time.
I am told that everything was decided last week. While the CAQ activists were congratulating themselves at the Drummondville congress for being proud, François Legault’s chief of staff sent a message to Mr. Drainville: we would like to talk to you… A meeting was organized for Wednesday evening. Drainville notified his bosses, who took him off the air as a precaution. Thursday, his decision was made: he was returning to politics. And everything indicates that it will be as a candidate in Lévis, replacing outgoing MP François Paradis.
Mr. Drainville leaves at least a million dollars on the table, the salary he would have received during the next three years as a radio host, under a contract he had just signed. His ratings were on the rise.
When I heard the news, I asked myself: why?
There is the drug of politics. Still, he has already tasted it. He had defended the tumultuous Charter of Quebec values and the consensual reform of the financing of political parties. Last fall, he dropped his popular morning column on Paul Arcand’s show to enjoy life a little more. Still, it’s probably his last chance to do politics and he doesn’t want to regret it.
He cannot ignore either that his defection will be perceived as a betrayal by his former PQ colleagues. I don’t think he gave up independence either. He only finds that his dream is bogged down.
In the late 1980s he was in favor of the Meech Lake Accord. He believed in the possibility of a reform of federalism. Then he lost all hope. Today, Quebec has lost even more power, but it will take this gamble. Probably because he feels like it’s the only card left to play.
He will also have to defend the third link, a project that contradicts the “green project” he defended in 2015 during the PQ leadership race.
Resident of Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, he will be able to defend himself from being parachuted into Lévis.
Maybe Drainville is thinking longer term. On Monday, he will be 59 years old. François Legault, he is 65 years old. If he wins the next election as expected, he will serve two terms. Will he ask for a third? The CAQ has ambitious young ministers, such as Geneviève Guilbault, Simon Jolin-Barrette and Sonia LeBel, who would like to succeed it one day. Mr. Drainville’s name could be added to the list.
Her return to politics follows that of Caroline St-Hilaire, another MP who became a commentator in order to jump the fence again. This back and forth risks fueling the mistrust of citizens in the face of this industry of exes.
But that is no longer Mr. Drainville’s problem. He will now defend pale blue.