The quote of the week
There is always a challenge of budgetary rigor, but there will be no austerity. […] There is no question of service cuts.
Prime Minister François Legault, confirming that Quebec’s deficits will be larger and that achieving a balanced budget in 2027-2028 is in question
Blue Spaces in the Red
PHOTO YAN DOUBLET, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVES
The Prime Minister indicated that “the plan is first of all to make a success of the museum in Quebec”, under construction on the site of the Séminaire, in Old Quebec.
Announced with great fanfare by François Legault in 2021, the creation of a network of 17 Blue Spaces, new regional museums to celebrate the history of Quebec, is compromised, in particular due to anticipated cost overruns. The Prime Minister indicated that “the plan is first of all to make the museum a success in Quebec.” This Blue Space is under construction in Old Quebec, on the Seminary site. Only two other projects are said to be “in progress”, in Percé and Amos; three are in “start-up” and one in “planning”. The other ten are at a standstill or at the very preliminary “pre-draft” stage. “Now, should we make one [Espace bleu] in each region? This should not be ruled out. But what I want is for us to first focus on making the museum a success in Quebec,” said Mr. Legault.
Advertising that goes poorly
To clearly mark its “refocusing” on its priorities, the Legault government released a new advertisement this week on social networks. “In 2024, we will return to the roots of what we are: the team of change,” argues the Prime Minister in the first seconds of the video. Ministers Bernard Drainville (Education), Christian Dubé (Health), Sonia LeBel (Treasury) and the Deputy Prime Minister, Geneviève Guilbault (Transport), speak in turn. No Pierre Fitzgibbon (Economy and Energy) nor Jean Boulet (Labour) despite their important bills coming this session, showing that François Legault’s government wants to focus on improving public services. However, the video goes badly. Mr. Legault alludes in particular to his election in 2018 and everything ends with the signature “Your government”. The opposition accuses the CAQ of using public funds for electoral-style advertising. The Liberal Party has already found a counterattack. To Mr. Legault who promises “to change what doesn’t work”, the Liberals respond “the government”.
QS deputies will have to do their duty in the region
PHOTO RYAN REMIORZ, THE CANADIAN PRESS
The co-spokespersons of Québec solidaire, Émilise Lessard-Therrien and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois
Émilise Lessard-Therrien wants to make Québec solidaire take a regional turn. The new co-spokesperson asked her urban colleagues to adopt one or more regions to report what is wrong to the National Assembly, deploring in the process the inertia of regional CAQ deputies. Unsurprisingly, the member for Sherbrooke Christine Labrie will take care of Estrie, and Mme Lessard-Therrien, former MP for Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue, from Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Montreal MPs Vincent Marissal (Gaspésie and Îles-de-la-Madeleine), Manon Massé (Côte-Nord and Nord-du-Québec) and Ruba Ghazal (Mauricie and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean) will, for their part, be able to do so. full of petro-points.
“We won’t let it happen! »
PHOTO FROM DANIELLE SMITH’S X ACCOUNT
Psychologist Jordan Peterson, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, Tucker Carlson and businessman Conrad Black pose on the sidelines of Mr. Carlson’s conference in Calgary on Wednesday.
The visit of Tucker Carlson, former star host of Fox News, to Alberta made waves even on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. His conference to “liberate Canada” from Justin Trudeau attracted thousands of people to Calgary and Edmonton. “We will not let this happen,” exclaimed Minister Pascale St-Onge during an outing with three of her colleagues. In addition to the host’s anti-LGBTQ+ jokes and his derogatory remarks about Montreal “cleansed of its Anglo-Saxon heritage”, it was a request from the Alberta Prime Minister that shocked the most. Danielle Smith told the champion of the radical right who has more than 11 million subscribers on . Relations between Ottawa and Alberta are at loggerheads, particularly because of the carbon tax. It was enough for the Liberals to try to associate Pierre Poilievre with the controversy, a hat that the Conservative leader refused to wear.
But where are we hiding the president of the PLQ?
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The president of the Liberal Party of Quebec, Rafael Primeau-Ferraro
After a press conference without announcement or commitment at the end of the Liberal pre-sessional caucus in Thetford Mines on Thursday, journalists awaited with interest the arrival of the president of the Liberal Party of Quebec, Rafael Primeau-Ferraro. The latter came to present the party’s financial statements to elected officials. However, after three days of being questioned about the next leadership race and being constantly confronted with the declarations of aspiring leader Denis Coderre, about to launch, the caucus informed the media that their president did not He was finally no longer available for interview. Their objective: not to deviate the message (once again) from what was said at the press briefing. However, the Thetford convention center being quite intimate, when a journalist chanced upon Mr. Primeau-Ferraro in a corridor, he called all his colleagues to set in motion the much-desired press scrum. The president willingly joined in, as he had promised to do, which revealed that Denis Coderre had no longer been a member of the PLQ since 2010.