In 1988, three English-speaking ministers of the Bourassa government resigned with a bang, believing that their honor prohibited them from supporting Bill 178, which their constituents perceived as a real betrayal.
This allowed the Equality Party, created for the occasion, to elect four deputies. Their adventure only lasted for one term, but that convinced Mr. Bourassa not to renew the derogation provision, which had made it possible to maintain the rule of French unilingualism in commercial signage at the against a judgment of the Supreme Court and a resolution adopted three years earlier by the General Council of the Quebec Liberal Party.
Prime Minister Legault had judged his deputies and ministers from the Quebec region well. None of them would go so far as to sacrifice their careers to protest against the abandonment of the motorway tunnel that they had solemnly promised during two successive election campaigns.
All of them felt that it was enough to present a flat apology by displaying a contrite air, even by shedding a few tears, to save their honor and appease the fury of their constituents, hoping that this episode, however embarrassing, will no longer be more than a bad memory in 2026.
A defection, or even a resignation which would have caused the holding of a by-election, could have allowed the Conservative Party to enter the National Assembly, but Éric Duhaime will probably have to content himself with tearing up what remains of his shirts to general indifference. All in all, the damage is limited.
Eric Caire’s reaction should surprise no one. If need be, his behavior during the SAAQ fiasco had shown that he feels no more embarrassment in discharging his responsibilities than in reneging on his commitments.
There was no nuance or conditionality in his repeated promise to resign if the highway tunnel project was abandoned. In reality, everything Mr. Caire says is questionable. He never found it necessary that his assertions correspond to the truth. Whether he still sits in cabinet remains a mystery.
His constituents in La Peltrie will judge his conduct, he said, but they may never have the chance. On the eve of the 2026 election, he may well announce that after two decades in politics, he has decided to enjoy a well-deserved retirement.
Bernard Drainville, he had not threatened to resign. His astonishing flight from his liberal counterpart, Marwah Rizqy, on Thursday afternoon, attests that he had found the day trying, but he was certainly not going to give up everything after chomping at the bit for six years since he had taken a leave of absence from politics.
Moreover, when he finds that reality does not justify the project he defended tooth and nail during the election campaign, he simply returns to what he had always said until obtaining his passport for the Council of Ministers imposes a first denial on him.
No joke, who can believe that he was really convinced that the “hellish” congestion caused by temporary work on the Pierre-Laporte bridge was going to become permanent? On this account, the capacity of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel should be urgently doubled.
Politics readily accommodates magical thinking, but the journalist that he was, like his colleague Martine Biron, could not have approved a project of this magnitude based on such fanciful premises.
Even the pretext of teleworking, which the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, invoked with her usual assurance to justify her abandonment, is porridge for the cats, according to a study dated last March produced by her own ministry.
“It would be reasonable to conclude that teleworking has little impact on traffic on the road network and public transport,” it reads. Contrary to what Mr.me Guilbault, the analyzes of the experts of his ministry do not allow them to conclude that travel habits have changed significantly since the pandemic.
In other words, whether it is to sell its project or to throw it away, the government has said nonsense. The wonder is that he managed to bamboozle so many people for so long.
What credibility can now have the new tunnel project devoted solely to public transport, which has no more foundation than its predecessor? After such a mystification, simply mentioning it constitutes an insult to the intelligence of voters. What can still remain of honor would dictate that this chimera should no longer be maintained.