It was François Legault’s existential fear. He even warned his deputies on the first day of his government in 2018.
Arrogance can torpedo governments, it must be resisted.
And yet, for all the ink that has been spilled about $100 cocktails, the problem is one of arrogance.
The story of this bereaved couple asked to meet the Minister of Transport at a fundraising event is proof of this.
The irony is that the chief firefighter of the CAQ, Minister Geneviève Guilbault, who demonstrated this in a sadly eloquent manner.
Faintness
How could a political employee think that it would be appropriate to monetize access to a minister with parents crusading against drunk driving following the death of their daughter?
Liberal MP Monsef Derraji was right to say that “it is unacceptable that we use the distress of a couple to advance the CAQ fund.”
But he too exploited this couple’s quest.
- Listen to the Latraverse-Dubé meeting with Emmanuelle Latraverse via QUB :
Was it really relevant to the debate over lowering blood-alcohol levels while driving to get the mother, Elizabeth Rivera, to tell the story of the cocktail?
Should it be done in full testimony in a parliamentary committee to maximize the “political bombshell” effect?
To ask the question is to answer it.
It must be admitted, this affair makes the entire political class look bad.
big
But it will harm the government much more for the simple reason that it perfectly embodies all the arrogance that comes with power.
The point of cocktails is not that you can buy listening to a minister with $100.
The problem is the eagerness of certain MPs and their deputies to play big shot by dangling pseudo-access to ministers…
Because whatever the opposition says, two minutes in a cocktail is only the illusion of access…
SCREENSHOT, VAT NEWS
The mayor feels big for having spoken to the minister, he will repeat it to his constituents. The MP feels big for having orchestrated this access. The deputy feels big for selling one more ticket.
It’s laughable.
But it becomes in bad taste when we talk about two parents who campaign to give meaning to the death of their daughter.
Sorry
The affair could have been defused with a well-intentioned apology.
The only thing to say was “on behalf of my party, I offer you our most sincere apologies, you should never have been placed in this situation”.
But no.
The delicious spat between Geneviève Guilbault and Pascal Bérubé, captured by a TVA cameraman, lifts the veil on the state of mind of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Protect your reputation, settle scores with the opposition.
Anger took precedence over empathy.
Making amends with “those people” as she described them, was incidental.
“If something unfortunately made someone feel uncomfortable” Geneviève Guilbault is sorry, but she sleeps “with her conscience every night”.
Sorry, that’s all the arrogance of power.
The one who blinds, the one who stifles compassion, the one who places the interests of the party before common sense.