Farewell time in Quebec

(Quebec) “I confess that this morning, I put on my make-up with particular care. I chose my mascara so that it wouldn’t run…”

It’s time to say goodbye to the National Assembly for Lise Thériault as for the 27 other deputies who announced their departure from political life at the end of their mandate. A final speech full of emotion.

The parliamentary session ends this Friday. The election campaign will be launched in less than three months. Little new ones will be from the start of the school year in the fall; some “elders” risk missing it… It will depend on the mood of the voters.

For now, the atmosphere is at the end of classes in Quebec. And we make the boxes by remembering the road traveled.

“When I started in politics, and I will try not to cry, I was 36, my son was 11. Today, I am 56 and my grandson is 10 years old, ”said Lise Thériault, the dean of the Liberal caucus, elected without interruption since 2002, at the Salon Bleu.

The tears flowed. Mascara too.

Many others wept as they pronounced their last words in the Blue Room. It is by speaking of the sacrifices for the family that the dam gives way.

Within the political staff, which we too often forget, some are returning to the private sector, many will leave for a short vacation before fighting the electoral battle where their fate will also be at stake.

Tributes

Obviously, the pre-election excitement has raised the decibel level in recent weeks. When Bill 96 was passed, we echoed the Language debate, the century-old painting by Charles Huot that adorns the Blue Room. But the last lap of many elected officials allowed small lulls.

Opponents threw flowers at each other. “No doubt it is unusual for a minister to pay tribute to his critic here, in the House, but I wanted to do it because in my eyes the member for Jonquière was never more than a simple critic,” said said the Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change, Benoit Charette, in a brief speech to mark the departure of PQ member Sylvain Gaudreault.

But the partisanship will always exist: the CAQ rejected a few moments later the proposal of Mr. Gaudreault to create, for the next legislature, a “parliamentary circle on the climate”, a forum on the environment bringing together deputies from all parties. .

It’s the week of the “last times” in Parliament, like the last press conference. “It was generally a pleasure to work with all of you,” Véronique Hivon told reporters. The “generally” made people smile.

The PQ received a low blow at the end of the course, from Sonia LeBel, whom she blamed for having obtained “zero results” in terms of CAQ requests to the federal government. “Honestly, I find it deplorable that my colleague chooses to end her career in the National Assembly in this way,” railed the Minister responsible for Canadian Affairs. A text message would have been better.

François Legault was more courteous towards the liberal Carlos Leitão, whom he mistakenly called “the Minister of Finance”. “I take this opportunity to pay tribute to him. I want to say thank you to him for his public service, ”said the Prime Minister. The caquistes owe him a tip of the hat: they inherited an 8 billion surplus when they came to power.

Conservative Claire Samson undermined the mood by declaring that backbenchers like her, “green plants”, have “not worked hard for two years”.

Members spoiled themselves by asking their last question. Gaétan Barrette addressed the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, as if he were at Just for Laughs. The minister “reproached a journalist for having rummaged through his garbage cans. Is it possible that the journalist in his garbage cans found the code of ethics he threw away? “, he launched all smiles, satisfied with his effect.

Worried about the third link, this “cloud that hangs over the people of Quebec”, Catherine Dorion criticized the Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel, for dodging his questions. This will be his final criticism of practices in Parliament. “Who, here, thinks that it looks good that the questions we ask, there is 0% of the content that is found in the answers? Raise your hand ! No one did, which elicited a fit of giggles. “We are 100% on my side! “, welcomed the member of Quebec solidaire.

To conclude this legislature, we even had the right to the return of a word that had not resonated for a long time in the Blue Room. “Separatists! shouted the Liberal Marc Tanguay, accusing the caquists of preparing sovereignty with the candidate Bernard Drainville. In response, the CAQ brought out a Bloc Québécois advertising video dating from the 1995 referendum in which the young Marc Tanguay declared that he “does not trust the old parties at all”! An end-of-school atmosphere, they said…

The word to the people

It’s time for the session reviews for the parties this Friday, an exercise that will be colored by the approach of the elections.

The Legault government will have passed around twenty bills this session. On the French language, the protection of young people, the development of places in childcare services, the end of the adventure of hydrocarbons and the health emergency… Other bills die on the order paper such as the reform of the mode of ballot, a broken promise from the CAQ, and the expansion of access to medical assistance in dying.

Rarely, the government will have created two new ministries this year – that of Cybersecurity and Digital and that of the French Language. That’s two more seats around the Council of Ministers table! The departures of Marguerite Blais and Danielle McCann release two of them. This is welcome for François Legault, who, if he is re-elected with around 100 deputies as the polls indicate, will have quite a headache to form his next cabinet.

But one thing at a time. It is up to the people to decide who will be the next tenants of parliament.