Prime Minister François Legault wanted to reassure the leader of the PLQ, Dominique Anglade, who was worried about seeing him “recruit separatist candidates waiting for the Grand Soir”. All those who run for the CAQ have read article 1 of its constitution, which provides “to ensure the development and prosperity of the Quebec nation within Canada”, he assured.
Mme Anglade is not wrong, however, to wonder if they have assimilated his program well. In his desire to show his credentials and appear completely cured of the sovereignist virus, Bernard Drainville has jumped over the horse, being practically reduced to boasting about the constitutional status quo.
“I think we can, as Quebecers, make progress with our current status, with the powers we have, the economy we have, the institutions, the democracy we have, the green energy we have. ‘we have, the natural resources we have,’ he said at a press conference. That is also what the Liberals are saying.
The candidate nominated in Lévis may have gone through the CAQ’s “New project for Quebec nationalists” a little too quickly. It’s true that it hasn’t produced any results for four years, and reading it probably isn’t very exciting for a former separatist, but “the powers we have” appear to be very insufficient.
Of course, all of this remains light years away from what Mr. Drainville demanded when he was in the PQ, but he explained that he no longer wanted to fight that battle.
At the time, the population’s loss of appetite for independence would have prompted him to redouble his efforts to stimulate it. Simply seeking to improve the daily lives of Quebecers in Canada would not have seemed to him a demonstration of political realism, but an act of resignation. To say that these are “elsewhere” even has something condescending about it, as if there was nothing more to do with them.
The opposition was happy to recall what he wrote to Mathieu Bock-Côté no later than October 2021: “We do not have the luxury of resignation, abandonment, abdication, regardless of the political framework. We separatists have endured in all forms. We have to last longer. In his case, it will have lasted another eight short months.
Ideas don’t die on their own. They do it when we stop defending them. Does Quebec have an interest in separatist voices becoming a mere whisper? Like François Legault, Mr. Drainville doubtless remains convinced that the creation of a sovereign state is the best, if not the only possible solution, but until further notice he will be content to talk about it in his living room.
In a tweet dated July 2012, he asked his ex-colleague if having renounced his convictions and founded the CAQ in the hope of becoming prime minister troubled his conscience. If a sovereigntist who was even more in a hurry can sleep peacefully after such a betrayal, why not him?
Another of his former colleagues, Benoit Charette, left the PQ in 2011 – who remembers? — and he is today Minister of the Environment, even if he is far from being of the same caliber. It would be too foolish to miss the opportunity out of attachment to a cause that less talented people deemed lost long ago, sniffing out the bargain before him. Why shouldn’t he indulge in the “luxury of resignation” he spoke of to Mathieu Bock-Côté?
It is repeated that a prime minister never promises a ministry to attract a candidate. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no doubt that Mr. Drainville will once again be entitled to his limo. Those who combine good political sense and a talent for communication are rare gems.
The Prime Minister insisted on the supposed economic concerns of his new recruit. In opposition, he was indeed critic for natural resources, where he campaigned vigorously for the development of the Old Harry oil field, but he remains first and foremost the father of the charter of the secularism.
Mr. Legault will certainly not entrust him with a file related to identity, such as language or immigration, and he will want to avoid too frequent friction with Ottawa, for fear that he will relapse. It takes some practice to swallow snakes without choking and even pretending to feast on them.
Mr. Drainville presents himself as a nationalist who has become reasonable and simply desires to make Quebecers happy within Canada, but there are times when federal bad faith is likely to discourage the best wills.
When he was Minister of the Environment in the Charest government, even Thomas Mulcair, whose federalist convictions were never in the slightest doubt, said that meeting Stéphane Dion enabled him to better understand the motivations of the sovereignists. .
Mr. Drainville believes that his current status allows Quebec to progress, but it would still be better to wait a bit before decorating him with the Order of Canada.