Québec solidaire (QS) co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois came to reporters after Thursday night’s TVA debate as an athlete in peak form who had just played the his life. Feverish, he gave the impression of still wanting to do battle with his rivals in overtime, admitting that it was difficult for him not to feel the adrenaline after two hours of such an exciting political game.
The excitement released by Mr. Nadeau-Dubois contrasted with the sullen air of François Legault, for whom the debate seems to have been an ordeal, both literally and figuratively. The CAQ leader had to defend the record of the government he has led for four years, four years during which he had to learn the limits of power. If politics is the art of the possible, Mr. Legault, more than any other party leader, knows something about it. The Liberal leader, Dominique Anglade, may have already been a minister in the government of Philippe Couillard, but she cannot claim to know the full weight of the responsibilities of a prime minister.
“François Legault’s favorite word is ‘impossible’,” said Mr. Nadeau-Dubois in a press briefing after the debate. Whenever we propose ambitious projects, he replies that it is impossible. It’s still too hard for François Legault. »
This election campaign is different from all the other campaigns that we have seen in Quebec for a long time. Five political parties are fighting to win seats in the National Assembly, but the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) is the only party in a position to form a government. According to the Qc125 site, which compiles the results of independent polls, the probability of a majority victory for the CAQ is more than 99%.
Of course, anything can happen in politics. But it would take an extra-extraordinary turnaround for the CAQ to lose the election. If, in the polls, support for the CAQ has fallen somewhat since the start of the campaign, those granted to the other parties have not risen enough for one or the other to claim power after October 3. . This is an almost unheard-of situation that disempowers the opposition parties to the highest degree.
QS may have an ambitious platform on the environment, but everyone knows that this party will not have the opportunity to deliver on its promises anytime soon. Mr. Nadeau-Dubois reiterated this week his commitment to force the Horne Foundry to reduce its arsenic emissions to three nanograms per cubic meter of air by 2026. However, we know that such a promise will never be fulfilled. implemented.
However, it allows QS to consolidate its support in Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue, and perhaps to preserve this riding that the party won by barely 500 votes in 2018. It also reminds progressives across the province that QS has a zero tolerance policy for major polluters. (With the exception of the McInnis cement plant, in Gaspésie, where QS is targeting the riding of Bonaventure.)
“The worst scenario that could happen is a temporary slowdown in foundry activities,” insisted Mr. Nadeau-Dubois. If that happens, there will be no loss of jobs and no loss of income for the workers. Whatever the cost of such a promise, or the precedent it would set, it allows QS to sell the illusion that anything is possible in the wonderful world of solidarity. This is where the excitement that Mr. Nadeau-Dubois exuded on Thursday evening takes on its full meaning. He had to embody the anti-Legault, and he did it wonderfully.
As for the CAQ leader, the frowns that appeared on his face throughout the evening of Thursday spoke volumes about his state of mind. After four years at the head of the province, the signs of the wear and tear of power are accumulating. Admittedly, not enough to threaten his chances of victory on October 3 – especially due to the lack of a credible alternative – but enough to dampen the enthusiasm with which he came to power in 2018.
Fate meant that Mr. Legault found himself at the helm when the worst pandemic in a century was hitting Quebec hard and shaking all certainties. If Mr. Legault had founded the CAQ in 2011 with, in mind, the idea of stirring the cage — and only he knows if that was really his desire —, it is clear that the government he chaired until he election call did not have a particularly reformist bent.
It was the most conservative government — in the non-partisan sense of the term — that Quebec has known since the days of the Union Nationale. Not just on identity issues. All along the line. At least Quebeckers know what to expect after October 3 if the CAQ is returned to power.
“There are two opposing visions in this election,” said Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois on Thursday evening, for whom the Parti Québécois, the Liberal Party of Quebec and the Conservative Party of Quebec seem to be only the extras of a epic struggle between good and evil.
Or between the “whatever the cost” of QS and the “just not possible” of the CAQ.