When you’ve painted yourself in the corner, the only solution is to step on the paint, said Jean Chrétien. This is what François Legault decided to do on Thursday evening.
During the “Face to Face” on TVA last week, he challenged Dominique Anglade and the PLQ for the title of champion in the fight against independence. After reflection, he does not even want to say whether he would vote yes or no in a possible referendum. We still wonder what fly had stung him so that he suddenly stopped sparing the goat and the cabbage.
It would have been difficult for Mr. Legault to experience such a bad debate as last week, but he will not have impressed anyone. He’s done just enough to be able to look at the rest of the campaign with a little more serenity.
Even if he was once again the privileged target, the format of the debate, more favorable to pedagogy than to confrontation, prevented him from constantly finding himself in the cables. Except when Dominique Anglade reproached him for having pushed back the situation of women, he managed to contain his irritation. VS
Conversely, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois set the bar very high with his performance last week. The element of surprise was less this time, but the important thing was to continue to embody the real alternative to the CAQ. Mr. Legault mocks the “wonderland” in which Québec solidaire lives, but there is always a market for hope.
The head of the CAQ, however, has no interest in giving up his “Halloween decorations”. Even if the tone of GND is intended to be reassuring, the world according to QS frightens many. Much of the electorate prefers to believe that it is possible to fight climate change without paying a price. The “orange tax” on gas-guzzling vehicles that Mr. Legault denounces is reminiscent of the “green tax” which made Stéphane Dion unhappy, but which time finally proved right.
In the meantime, it is clear that the success of esteem won by the QS co-spokesperson since the start of the campaign has not translated into voting intentions. The last debate will doubtless change nothing. B
Dominique Anglade hadn’t been so bad last week, but we didn’t take anything away from her performance. This time she did not hesitate to highlight what distinguished her from the “gentlemen” who surrounded her: the “daughter of an immigrant” whose parents passed on their values to her, the “mother” who knows what it costs not to find a place in child care… Unfortunately, a good debate cannot be enough to save a disastrous campaign. B
You don’t change a winning recipe. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon continued his momentum by giving another demonstration of how we can debate differently. If there is one who can hope to have won votes on Thursday, it is him.
He will no doubt have convinced sovereignists who joined the CAQ in 2018 to return home. Knowing that the PQ has no chance of forming the government, even voters who do not necessarily want a referendum, but who are worried about the future of French, will want to avoid its disappearance. B
Éric Duhaime did not experience a great debate. The Conservative leader is used to simplistic solutions, but to propose that civil servants fired to lighten the burden of the state be transferred to schools suffering from a shortage of teachers demonstrates a disturbing ignorance of the demands of the profession. D