Tuesday, the backlash of these 5 to 7 million “invested” for two LA Kings games in Quebec could not fail to flash in the Prime Minister’s office.
Enriching a billion-dollar industry with public funds is not acceptable. And not just for the bad unions, not just for the bad opposition parties…
(Unions that have the support of the population1, by the way. And a party, the PQ, which imposes itself2 in the minds of the electorate.)
This backlash against public aid to the NHL is widespread. This decision – taken unilaterally by the great hockey fan who heads Finance – does not pass.
Two flashes to illustrate the surf.
One, I don’t remember a decision – outside of a pandemic – that has so scandalized the good people. And for so long. Not confusing: Eric Girard’s blunder has eclipsed the indigestion of candy from the apparatchiks of the Montreal Public Consultation Office!
Two, in the CAQ family itself, made up of well-bred deputies who generally do not spit in the soup, three deputies still expressed their discomfort publicly on Tuesday. Imagine the brave people who remain silent but think no less…
But Eric Girard, who had the idea of bringing the Kings free in Quebec, did not seem to have received the memo about the discontent that was rampant everywhere on the cow floor. Tuesday, during question period, the Minister of Finance played it above his business, with a little smirk. As if questions about it were an inconvenience that shouldn’t monopolize his considerable talents…
I thought: drooling, too?
And earlier, at a press briefing, Eric Girard had launched into an esoteric calculation of the probabilities on the return of the Nordics…
Esoteric?
All that was missing from Mr. Girard’s theory was Gary Bettman’s astrological sign (gemini, for those who are interested) to convince us that the chances3 of a return of the Nordics are alive and well (10%, according to the minister).
Thought: I hope that Mr. Fitzgibbon negotiates the billions for the battery sector better than his colleague Mr. Girard “negotiated” for the Kings’ millions… Otherwise, I’m dizzy.
What is circulating is that Eric Girard led the Kings file himself. What is being circulated is that the PM’s office didn’t think it was a good idea. What is also circulating is that the federal Conservatives would like to attract Mr. Girard to Ottawa… And that the CAQ do not want to lose their Minister of Finance.
Mr. Girard’s blunder is the symptom of a greater evil. The government is disheveled. When the Premier of Quebec announces the return of the 3e link from the dead during a press briefing and his Minister of the Economy learns it from the mouths of journalists, that gives an idea of the CAQ disorganization… It starts from the top.
There is a person who is almost never talked about and who is responsible for ensuring that the government remains disciplined…
His name is Martin Koskinen. Most Quebecers do not know him. He is one of the most influential men in Quebec: he is the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.
He is the conductor of the government. It is he who makes the difficult announcements to ministers, who imposes the boss’s vision, who must see to the big issues and the small details.
Now, when I see this subsidy to allow the Kings to play two meaningless games in Quebec, when I see MP Éric Caire cavorting about it while boasting of having already bought his tickets, when I see this salary increase of 30% to deputies alongside negotiations with the public sector, when I see Bernard Drainville starting to sing a song from Cowboys Fringants – the entire song – in a press briefing and when I see the PM himself improvising out loud about a 10 billion project, I wonder…
Coudonc, Martin Koskinen, where is he?
Is he paid to be the conductor of the government or to be the confidant of his friend François Legault?
You might think that what I’m describing is just internal politics in a tired government. We can.
But the indiscipline of these people has harmful effects in reality. Their improvisation has effects in the lives of Quebecers. I say it loud and clear: instead of making spectacular announcements that allow you to have your face in the camera, make sure that the state’s mission cr****s function like the rest of the world.4.
Wednesday morning, I was reading my Press. Hugo Pilon-Larose reported that the exodus of professionals from public schools continues5, a silent tragedy. Psychologists, speech therapists, special education technicians: they are deserting public schools, which makes life even more complicated for teachers in “regular” classes.
I quote the text: “Managements are also struggling to keep these professionals who support students with learning difficulties in place, in the context where the budgetary envelopes intended for them are re-evaluated each year by Quebec, which does not allow them to not to grant a lot of permanence…”
What do the Legaults, Koskinens and Girards do if their children have learning difficulties? I don’t wish this burden on them, but I am sure of one thing: they have the means to go to the private sector for speech therapy and remedial education services.
For them, these stories of orthopedagogues in exodus are disembodied, “files”, simple fires to put out, pawns in the game policy.
That’s also what being disconnected is: forgetting what it’s like, not being so privileged as to be entirely dependent on public services.
By the way, why is Eric Girard still Minister of Finance with his “5 to 7 million” subsidy for the Kings which has been embarrassing his government for a week?
I do not have the answer to this question, but I note this: Mr. Legault has an easier time inflicting demotions on women (I am thinking of Danielle McCann and MarieChantal Chassé, for example) than on men who blunder (Éric Caire is still minister, I rest my case, as they say in LA).
I end with another question, to which I have the answer…
Who is the highest paid Kings player and how much does he make?
His name is Drew Doughty and he earns 11 million US this year, or 15 million CAN.
That will be all, I can’t wait to watch Mr. Girard’s drooling smile in the room later.