Four years ago, she defended, not without difficulty, the tax holiday at Netflix; in 2021, it will have to defend Canada’s interests in the world. For her close collaborators of the last turbulent years, the meteoric rise of Montrealer Mélanie Joly within Cabinet Trudeau is the result of her hard work to demonstrate her worth, both to her colleagues and to the public.
When Justin Trudeau’s plane lands in the Armenian capital on the evening of October 10, 2018, the fate of former Governor General Michaëlle Jean has already been settled. The Prime Minister announced to her, as soon as she got out of her Airbus, that she would be replaced at the head of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) after only one term.
However, the Prime Minister’s participation in the Yerevan international summit could have turned sour without the diplomatic work of the shadow of his Minister of La Francophonie, sent in advance to tie everything up so that Canada can let go of its candidate without provoking scandal. Mme Jean clung to her post as Secretary General of La Francophonie, even though she did not have the international support needed to stay. The OIF operates by consensus, and the Prime Minister could not waste his political influence on this lost cause.
“It was there that I saw Mélanie’s diplomatic talents,” says a liberal source well aware of the episode. She understood everything that was going on, and she made the necessary calls. She landed the file well. A Liberal official confirms: “It was noticed by the Prime Minister. “
A dozen of Mélanie Joly’s relatives or ex-collaborators, most now occupying positions that do not allow them to testify publicly, told the To have to how the politician managed to rise in government to find herself, Tuesday, in the prestigious post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada.
Bumpy start on Netflix
Mélanie Joly’s beginnings at the Cabinet were not, however, the most brilliant. Elected with the Trudeau team in 2015, the Oxford graduate, then best known for her candidacy for mayor of Montreal, was appointed Minister of Canadian Heritage at the age of 36. His time in this ministry made headlines for the wrong reasons.
His defense of the Liberal promise not to impose any new taxes, not even on the multinational Netflix, is not happening in Quebec. At the turn of October 2017, she performed a series of interviews, including on the popular show Everybody talks about it, to announce its cultural policy and an investment agreement with Netflix. Rather, it earned her to be ridiculed on the set of Guy A. Lepage, she who found herself bogged down in her unconvincing answers to the insistent questions of the host and the guests.
As she later clarified, Mélanie Joly had nothing to do with the TPS holiday at Netflix, a decision that was ultimately revoked. Several sources agree: the minister “went to bat for the government ”, even if it means receiving a blow. “It was humiliating,” recalls one member of his team. “It was very difficult,” said another. “It had become the symbol of the language of wood,” sums up a former employee.
Even today, his former close collaborators remain bitter about this painful episode which stuck to Minister Joly’s skin for years. They believe that it has been the victim of an amalgamation between questions of taxation and cultural investments. In July 2018, Mélanie Joly was demoted to the post of Minister of Tourism.
“She could have dropped everything there,” believes a liberal source. On the contrary, Minister Joly held on. Several former collaborators testify to the continuation as proof of extraordinary “resilience”.
In Tourism, the Minister has decided to use this decline as an advantage. “She worked on her caucus. All the deputies in the region, we went to see them all, says a former employee. Our strategy was to get her out, to go to all the small communities. It made him shine. After all, what place in Canada doesn’t need tourism?
“She is excellent for mobilizing the caucus [les autres élus libéraux] ”, Summarizes Mathieu Bouchard, who was then principal advisor to Prime Minister Trudeau for Quebec. During the passage of Mme Joly, federal tourism dollars have jumped. She repeated her winning formula in the Economic Development portfolio after the 2019 election.
“She’s a good politician. It has evolved a lot, and it is very strategic. At the end of the line, the Quebec Minister of Economy and Innovation, Pierre Fitzgibbon, has seen Mélanie Joly at work in recent years. And he has nothing but praise for him. “In the Quebec business community, Mélanie has earned respect. […] She listens to people, in a practical way, and brings their demands to Cabinet. His appointment to Foreign Affairs is, in his opinion, good news for Quebec.
Leader of the French file
Responsible for the issue of official languages, Minister Joly distinguished herself by quickly criticizing the decision of the Ontario government of Doug Ford to end the project of the University of French Ontario and abolish the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner. . “It gave him back his confidence, it propelled her”, testifies a former deputy.
A major issue awaited his re-election in 2019, as the Liberal Party changes its approach to French. The language must be defended not only in a minority situation, but also in Quebec. Mélanie Joly’s task is to get the idea across to English-speaking liberals and the rest of the country. At the end of the day, they aren’t criticizing either his white paper or his bill. “That is internal diplomacy,” explains Mathieu Bouchard.
Co-chair of the 2021 electoral campaign, Minister Joly has made it her mission to recruit more women. She phones trade unionist Pascale St-Onge, and convinces her to get started. “Even though I’m older than her, she has been like a big sister to me throughout the campaign. In terms of political organization, it’s a machine, ”says the new minister.
Despite taking on one of the most prestigious positions in government, Mélanie Joly, at 42, has not given up on her plan to start a family. And the Prime Minister knows about it. “This is not at all a brake on his project, explains the host Julie Snyder, who accompanies him in his fertilization process. in vitro. On the contrary ! She may have a better chance of getting pregnant, her head will be busy with other things. “