In a context where her departure was inevitable, Dominique Anglade made the best decision, both for her and for her party. She chose to snatch the bandage off with a sharp blow instead of making the suffering last forever.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
She acted with class. Let’s salute him. We also salute the commitment and accomplishments in Quebec political life of the woman who made history as the first black woman to run for the post of Prime Minister.
If the departure of Dominique Anglade calms the internal quarrels, it will not cure the much deeper evil from which the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) suffers. The party remains in intensive care. Fourth in terms of votes cast in the last election, with barely 14% of the vote, the PLQ has lost its soul.
Who will replace the boss? This is not the most urgent question. The party may very well wait until 2025, a year before the next elections, to name a successor to the throne, hoping that there will be more candidates than when Mr.me Anglade, who found herself without a competitor.
Nothing to boost the image of the party.
Today, in 2022, what is the true relevance of the Liberal Party? This is the most crucial question to which the interim leader will have to find an answer.
Over the years, the liberal “brand” has been seriously damaged due to corruption scandals, the difficult period of budgetary rigor to swallow, the reform which has weakened the health network and, more recently, the procrastination at about the French language reform.
To rebuild itself, the PLQ must return to its fundamental values.
He must recover the label of “party of the economy” that the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) stole from him.
How to distinguish yourself from the government? By betting on a 20th century economye century which gives pride of place to the energy transition (but not with the ECO plan based on green hydrogen which was badly put together) and which is based on a wise and responsible management of public finances (far from the promises of reductions in taxes that were ill-advised).
The environment is the economic blind spot of the CAQ which, as we know, does not pay much attention to the fight against climate change. Prime Minister François Legault is also conspicuous by his absence from COP27.
With this denial, it places itself on the margins of the concerns of the business community, which has long integrated environmental, social and sound governance (ESG) principles into its activities.
The government – which perceives immigration as a threat – also finds itself at odds with the business community, for whom the number one enemy is the labor shortage.
Instead of playing on the fear of disappearing, the QLP can promote a nation that has self-confidence and is capable of moving forward, by reaching out to its neighbors, rather than fueling sterile quarrels.
The Liberal Party can bet on a nationalism of openness, rather than a nationalism of withdrawal. On the pride of being Quebecers, in the respect of individual rights, one of the foundations of liberalism.
But individual freedoms should not overshadow social justice, another key liberal value. Otherwise, we would quickly find ourselves in a “selfish society” which would be “delivered to the domination of its strongest members, to the detriment of its weakest members”, as Claude Ryan wrote 20 years ago.
In a 70-page text, the former leader of the PLQ updated the essential values of the party, based on the great achievements of the party that built modern Quebec with the Quiet Revolution.
The Liberal Party is ripe for a new introspection if it wants to regain its relevance, its soul… and the hearts of Quebecers.