Prime Minister François Legault loses a fourth collaborator in a few weeks: his director of media relations, Manuel Dionne, who will join the Federation of Specialist Physicians of Quebec (FMSQ).
This departure comes after those of Vincent Desmarais, Isabelle Lewis and Sébastien Lauzon, all members of Mr. Legault’s inner circle, at a time when the polls are particularly bad for the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ).
On Tuesday, Mr. Legault thanked Mr. Dionne, a “family friend,” on social media “for these six years of facing journalists.”
Manuel Dionne arrived at the CAQ in 2018, after working at the Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ) and the Parti Québécois (PQ). He now claims to be leaving Mr. Legault’s office for family reasons.
“Should we see that there are people who are going to leave the ship because things are not going well at the CAQ? […] This is a question that some might have,” reacted Tuesday the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ), Marc Tanguay.
The Prime Minister’s director of strategic planning, Stéphane Gobeil, immediately wanted to “kill the rumor”. “No, I’m not leaving. I remain alongside François Legault,” he declared on the X network.
The arrival of Manuel Dionne at the FMSQ, with whom the Legault government must negotiate a new remuneration agreement, “may just help”, argued for his part the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé.
“When we are in negotiations, the idea is to reduce the climate of confrontation and encourage communication. […] If Manuel Dionne, who is a communications expert, can help with that, I have no problem with that, on the contrary,” he said.
At a press briefing, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon stressed that by joining the FMSQ, Mr. Dionne was placing himself in an “uncomfortable” position.
“When we are in an untenable position, that is to say we have information on both sides, there is a way to exclude ourselves from certain processes to be sure not to place anyone or in embarrassment. It’s called a Chinese wall,” he said.
“These are choices that must be respected,” says the parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire (QS), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. “Politics is hard. […] I can understand that people, at some point in their lives, decide to take a step back. »