François Legault was practically guaranteed to record a gain this week. A favorable decision on secularism in the Court of Appeal gives him a victory he sorely needed. But in the event of defeat, he could have torn his shirt and put on his Captain Quebec cape.
In September 2019, at the Lévesque hotel in Rivière-du-Loup, Simon Jolin-Barrette and François Legault were welcomed as heroes of secularism by delirious activists, on the sidelines of the CAQ back-to-school caucus.
The deputies were returning from vacation, after a summer of being congratulated for the adoption of the law prohibiting the wearing of religious symbols by state employees in positions of authority.
The party had begun its clear domination in the polls.
Drugged by the effect of secularism, the CAQ elected officials had wings.
The picture has changed.
After a difficult electoral campaign in 2022, everything turned into dishwater for François Legault.
To the point where, since the return of the holiday season, we have seen among the Caquists a desire to return to the “basic game”.
Secularism, language
What made the party successful, apart from putting money back into the pockets of taxpayers, was secularism, the defense of the language, nationalism.
The strategists understood that their leader had been overexposed and, frankly, had lost his power of attraction.
His public outings have been reduced.
He now answers questions from journalists only once a week in parliament.
The CAQ nevertheless finds a way to attract ridicule, notably this week with a bogus consultation on the 3e link.
If the government had really wanted to obtain maximum insight into citizens’ opinions and their ideas regarding transportation, the consultation would have been carried out more rigorously, and earlier, to inspire the CDPQ Infra which will make recommendations.
All the same, at the start of 2024, the government has prepared various outings in the hope of creating an effect.
The PM’s letter to Justin Trudeau on asylum seekers in January.
The muscular exit of the four ministers last week to add pressure on the federal government.
The tabling of the bill to renew the exemption clause protecting the ban on religious symbols from legal recourse.
A new plan on language by Jean-François Roberge, which the CAQ keeps like a card up its sleeve, will also be revealed by the summer.
The beautiful role
The decision of the Court of Appeal on Bill 21 is timely in this succession of ingredients of the basic recipe.
The CAQ leader was not going to shy away from his pleasure.
Even before knowing the Court’s decision, those around him indicated that he would make a statement on secularism at the end of the day, Thursday.
The intention to cling to this strong and popular symbol was obvious.
In troubled waters in recent months, the return to the defense of the separation between state and religion appears to be a buoy.
The CAQ leader is far from out of the woods, but the debate on this subject allows him to play the good role again, in the eyes of a majority of Quebecers.
Even if François Legault said he was obsessed with education, and he bet a lot on the battery sector, secularism will probably be his main political legacy… unless it is one day overturned by the Supreme Court.
IN BULK
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