(Québec) Radio host and former PQ minister Bernard Drainville is back in politics and will wear the colors of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) in Lévis in the general election.
Updated yesterday at 6:13 p.m.
The Montreal station of Cogeco, 98.5 FM, announced the resignation of its host and his return to politics on Friday morning, which caused an earthquake on Parliament Hill in Quebec.
If François Legault was content to say that he would talk about his new recruit “in due time”, next week, his minister Éric Caire translated the euphoria in the CAQ camp when he joined at full speed the Prime Minister to the Blue Room. “Chef, that’s the best slice of steak in the world!” All the journalists are on it! he told her in a low voice, but clearly enough that The Press hear him in the hallway.
It all started when Bernard Drainville hinted to advisers to the Prime Minister that he was bored with politics, during a friendly meeting in April. The word got around, but the serious steps took place more recently. Mr. Legault’s chief of staff, Martin Koskinen, spoke with Bernard Drainville on Saturday. Since then, events have jostled: the host withdrew from the airwaves after his show on Tuesday and met the Prime Minister on Wednesday to seal the deal.
Candidate in Lévis
Resident of Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, in the region of Quebec, Bernard Drainville will present himself in Lévis. The CAQ MP for this constituency, François Paradis, President of the National Assembly, confirmed in a press release on Friday that he would not seek a third term and would leave politics. This announcement was scheduled for the end of the session on June 10, the CAQ was told recently. “The agendas change” when “the stars align”, admitted Mr. Paradis to The Press. He explained that “an additional four years [l’auraient] conducted at the dawn of 70 years.
In 2018, the former TV host won with 57% of the vote and a strong majority of 14,500 votes.
The rumor of Bernard Drainville jumping to the CAQ has been circulating on Parliament Hill for a long time. The principal concerned always said that such was not his intention. His eldest son, Lambert Drainville, recently became press attaché to the Minister for Health and Social Services, Lionel Carmant.
The Parti Québécois is not surprised by Mr. Drainville’s decision. “The only question that remained was when he was going to announce it,” launched PQ MP Pascal Bérubé.
Il a remis en question l’intégrité de l’animateur de radio. « Depuis quand sait-il qu’il sera candidat de la CAQ ? Quand a-t-il commencé à négocier ? », a-t-il lancé, reconnaissant que les mêmes questions avaient été posées à M. Drainville en 2007 lorsque celui-ci avait annoncé sa candidature pour le Parti québécois. Il était à l’époque chef du bureau parlementaire de Radio-Canada à Québec et avait fait une entrevue avec le chef péquiste André Boisclair quelques jours plus tôt.
« Depuis des années », « j’affirme sans aucune ambiguïté qu’il a été complaisant [sur les ondes du 98,5 FM] and has always refrained from directly attacking the CAQ”, while being “hard” towards the other parties, added Pascal Bérubé.
Natural resources
Over the past few years, Bernard Drainville has shown great interest in issues related to the export of hydroelectricity and the development of the electric battery sector. The magazine Deals points out, moreover, that he would have expressed the wish to obtain the position of Minister of Natural Resources in his negotiations with the CAQ. Its current holder is Jonatan Julien, MP for Charlesbourg. ” Good weekend ! “, was satisfied to answer the latter to the journalists while leaving the blue Salon.
A CAQ source told The Press that Mr. Drainville would rather have made it known that he does not want to inherit identity issues, such as language and immigration.
Pascal Bérubé swept aside the questions relating to the signal sent by Bernard Drainville’s decision about the state of the Parti Québécois. He maintained that he remained faithful to his sovereignist convictions, accusing Mr. Drainville of having become a federalist.
The Liberal Party sees things quite differently. “Bernard Drainville does not enter politics to be a cantor of Canada. Bernard Drainville will sing the song that François Legault has already started and sung on separatist governance! “, unchecked the deputy Marc Tanguay. If we also take into account the candidacy of former Bloc member Caroline St-Hilaire, “the agenda is less and less hidden”, according to him. “There is not much room left for federalists at the CAQ,” he said.
Mais d’après le ministre de la Famille, Mathieu Lacombe, « Marc Tanguay est dans la théorie du complot ». « Les fédéralistes sont nombreux à la CAQ », a-t-il soutenu, se décrivant lui-même comme un « nationaliste qui est aussi fédéraliste ».
« [À la] CAQ, we are not sovereignists or nationalists, said for his part the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon. [On est] in a context of federation that we respect. I am a federalist. For him, “there is no danger, the caucus will not be sovereignist”.
“The Parti Québécois treats us as federalists, the Liberals are trying to shake up the scarecrow of the referendum, it’s twice nonsense,” said the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge. The former president of the PQ association in Vachon (2007-2008) did not want to go back on his independence convictions which, according to him, go back to “just after Methuselah”.
“It is not the objective of the CAQ” to hold a referendum on sovereignty, insisted on specifying François Legault at the Blue Room. “We are a nationalist party that defends our values within Canada. »
According to Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the recruitment of the “father of the Charter of Values” is “completely consistent with François Legault’s electoral strategy. [axée] on secularism and immigration”.
Member of the Parti Québécois from 2007 to 2016, Bernard Drainville was Minister responsible for Democratic Institutions under the Marois government. He reformed the law on the financing of political parties, but he is best known for having carried the Charter of Values project. He was a candidate for the succession of Pauline Marois as leader of the Parti Québécois, throwing in the towel in the middle of the race to support Pierre Karl Péladeau.
With the collaboration of Fanny Lévesque, Charles Lecavalier and Hugo Pilon-Larose, The Press