(Québec) Will the armor of the Prime Minister and leader of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) François Legault be scratched at the end of the national convention to be held this weekend in Sherbrooke?
The chief caquiste must pass the test of the vote of confidence of the delegates, for the second time in career. In 2014, François Legault had collected a staggering score of 97.2%.
The 2020 vote of confidence had been canceled due to the pandemic.
Today, the CAQ had its worst poll since 2018, and the abandonment of several of its flagship promises – including that of building a third road link between Quebec and Lévis – caused a stir.
Will the 850 or so members of the CAQ gathered in convention Saturday and Sunday in Sherbrooke be tempted to express a certain discontent?
One thing is certain, the bar is high: the one who benefits from the drop in the CAQ in the polls, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, obtained 98.5% of support when activists spoke out about his leadership. , last March.
Perilous Trials
In recent history, the exercise of the vote of confidence has sometimes been painful, even fateful, for the leaders of political parties.
In Ottawa, Martine Ouellet, then leader of the Bloc Québécois, was shown the door in 2018 with 32% of support.
In 2016, Thomas Mulcair, of the New Democratic Party, obtained a result of 48%, well below the target of 70% that he had set. However, he will remain in office until his successor is appointed in 2017.
In Quebec, in 2005, Bernard Landry, then leader of the opposition, had resigned after obtaining the support of 76.2% of the delegates to the convention, to everyone’s surprise.
In addition to Mr. Landry’s resounding departure, the Parti Québécois (PQ) conventions have been perilous ordeals for other leaders as well.
In 1996, Lucien Bouchard, despite the aura that surrounded him following the 1995 referendum, won 76.7% of the votes of PQ activists. But Jacques Parizeau, in 1992, won 92% of the votes of his troops.
In 1982, after threatening to resign, the founding father of the PQ, Premier René Lévesque, obtained a score of 95%.
Congress themes
The caquistes who will meet in Sherbrooke will debate 32 proposals, many of which relate to energy. “The energy transition is the challenge of the century”, we can read in the proposal book.
We want to build new dams, improve the energy efficiency of buildings in Quebec, and require the installation of an electric charging station in any gas station with more than six pumps.
For young people, it is proposed to offer an amount of $1,000 to the parents of each child born in Quebec, in the form of a deposit in a registered education savings plan (RESP).
We also want parents to be able to withdraw an amount from the registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), exempt from provincial tax, to contribute to a down payment for their child on the purchase of a first principal residence.
In addition, caquists are calling on Ottawa for full control of the temporary foreign worker program.
Some will also take advantage of the convention to ask the government to put an end to the monopoly of the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ). The Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, however, closed the door to this idea during the study of credits.