Twenty years ago today, Jean Charest became Premier of Quebec. With 46% of the vote and 76 seats out of 125, his victory and that of the Quebec Liberal Party were unequivocal. “I’m ready,” he proclaimed throughout the campaign…
Also armed at the federal level with his 14 years of active politics in the Progressive Conservative Party of Brian Mulroney, Jean Charest, it must be said, was a real political beast.
This passionate federalist, dubbed “Captain Canada” in the 1995 referendum, was recruited in 1998 by the business community to lead the PLQ. Despite even his dream of one day becoming Prime Minister of Canada.
His mission in Quebec: to confront the popular PQ premier, Lucien Bouchard. He too, a product of the progressive-conservative seraglio.
Jean Charest will nevertheless have to wait until 2003 before acceding to the post of Prime Minister, which he will retain for three consecutive terms.
A political beast, he was also a formidable orator. At the PLQ, the conservative graft has therefore taken successfully. Once in power, however, he failed to impose his “reengineering” of the Quebec state aimed at making it even more “business friendly”.
However, he succeeded in remaking the PLQ into a formidable machine for “collecting money”, to use the shock formula of Robert Benoît, ex-president of the PLQ. Hence the suspicions of cronyism and corruption that will continue to float around the PLQ.
Failed attempt
The rest of the story, including the creation under high pressure by Jean Charest himself of the Charbonneau Commission and the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC), is well known.
Just like his failed attempt in 2012 to be re-elected for a fourth time. This time, by setting himself up as the guardian of “law and order” by his demonization of Maple Spring while falsely accusing the students on strike of lapsing into “violence and intimidation”.
Since then, except for his defeat last year at the hands of Pierre Poilievre as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Jean Charest, whether he likes it or not, drags the pans of the Charbonneau Commission with him.
However, a major consolation came to him in April. Or for the 20 years marking his seizure of power. The Superior Court granted him compensation of $385,000 for his action brought following multiple media leaks from UPAC.
Which leaks have severely damaged his privacy and his reputation. Ironically, UPAC was its own creation.
A Charest dynasty?
Second consolation: while the PLQ languishes in the 36th below, more than a thousand guests, Liberals and sympathizers, are expected tomorrow to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their return to power under Jean Charest.
Journalist Sébastien Bovet reported that this festive commemoration is organized not by the PLQ, but by the friends of Jean Charest, under the honorary presidency of Raymond Bachand, former Liberal minister.
Because you should know that in the Liberal ranks, as decimated as they are, many still miss Jean Charest and his passion. He was the one who, after all, gave them three terms in a row in power. Considerable political capital that his successors have since heavily squandered.
Third consolation: within the working committee responsible for the PLQ to think about its possible reconstruction, we find among others an activist by the name of Antoine Dionne Charest, the son of Jean Charest and Michèle Dionne.
After the Trudeau dynasty in the PLC, will there also one day be a Charest dynasty in the PLQ? To be continued…