The Liberals of the Charest era felt a real affection for their leader. Former Family Minister Yolande James admired him to the point of comparing him to Agent 007. He himself learned from Brian Mulroney that no effort should be spared to ensure the loyalty of MPs, who the ultimate defense when things go wrong.
If the twentieth anniversary of the April 2003 victory gave rise to warm reunions, it was also an opportunity to indulge for a few hours in the nostalgia of the good old days, when the PLQ could still claim to be “the party natural government”.
There is a rush at his bedside these days. Everyone goes to their diagnosis and calculates the chances of survival of the dying person. With only 4% of the voting intentions of Francophones, there is indeed cause for concern. Even Anglophones shunned him during the recent by-election in Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne.
In the National Assembly, the survivors of the massacre of October 3 themselves seem to be wondering what they are still doing in this galley and whether they should not consider a career change. The next election always comes too quickly when you are so disoriented, and you should not expect a miracle from the recovery committee co-chaired by former senator André Pratte and deputy Madwa-Nika Cadet.
It has become commonplace to say that the Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois are victims of a paradigm shift in political debate in Quebec, which is no longer dominated by the national question. In this new context, however, the PLQ lost more than the PQ. The PQ continue to lead the fight for independence, while the Liberals can no longer credibly dangle the possibility of a renewal of federalism.
Despite the cunning of Pierre Elliott Trudeau who, during the 1980 referendum campaign, had knowingly deceived Quebecers about the meaning of a No vote, his departure and the arrival of Brian Mulroney had enabled Robert Bourassa to present a solution alternative to sovereignty by negotiating the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord.
During the 1998 Quebec election campaign, Jean Chrétien, who had already opposed the Meech Lake accord, sawed off Jean Charest’s legs by categorically rejecting his attempt to relaunch constitutional negotiations. Fortunately, Mr. Chrétien announced his intention to leave politics before the 2003 Quebec election, so there was once again hope for some openness in Ottawa.
In 2004, Paul Martin accepted the principle of asymmetry in the financing of health services, as demanded by Quebec, and Stephen Harper made some symbolic concessions.
When he became leader of the PLQ, Philippe Couillard planned to conclude an agreement that would allow the reintegration of Quebec into the constitutional fold to coincide with the 150e anniversary of the British North America Act, in 2017. Justin Trudeau said no; Mr. Couillard did not insist.
No one sees the day when this file can be reopened. Prime Minister Legault has known from the start that the demands made in 2015 by the CAQ in its “New project for Quebec nationalists”, which largely echoed those of Meech, are inadmissible in English Canada, in whose eyes the specificity of Quebec consists above all in a propensity for intolerance, even racism, which there is no question of tolerating. However, he was able to provide an outlet for nationalist moods and Quebec “pride” by reactivating the debate on identity issues: immigration, secularism, language.
The tragedy of the PLQ is that this recourse is forbidden to it. It has nothing to offer francophones to make Canada more comfortable for them.
Former Minister Benoît Pelletier believes that the Liberal Party has “too absolutist a conception of individual rights and freedoms”, which should be better reconciled with collective rights. This is precisely what the PLQ does not have the leisure to do because its anglophone and allophone voters, without whom it would not have elected any MP, would not accept it.
Dominique Anglade demonstrated this dependence during his brief reign. At first, she had simply undertaken not to renew the derogation provision included in Law 21 on secularism, but that was not enough; she had to promise to change it to allow teachers to wear religious symbols. Then, after proposing to strengthen law 96 on the language by imposing courses in French on all CEGEP students, including English speakers, she had to do an about-face and reject it outright.
The PLQ chose to chain itself to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, whose sanctification it accepted despite denouncing its entrenchment in the Canadian constitution in 1982. Unless it decides to free itself from it, the next anniversary could look like a funeral.