Day-to-day business management | The Press

Others have already detailed the CAQ’s remarkable victory on October 3. For some, the explanation lay in elements of identity politics—for others, the absence of other options. The electoral results certainly gave oxygen to those who saw the imprints of Bills 21 and 96 there. .

However, almost all the polls published before the adoption of these laws confirmed that Mr. Legault was easily ahead of his opponents. Even without these “polarizing” legislative initiatives, the Legault government was probably heading for a final victory.

The ballot box question is rarely “Are the buses running on time?” “, but stewardship weighs in the voting booth. A government is elected to manage a State, to render services. And occasionally a phenomenon occurs, such as COVID-19, which will allow it to stand out. As Lucien Bouchard had done before him during the ice storm, Mr. Legault knew how to use a reassuring tone, but rarely cheerful. His management of the crisis, although sometimes imperfect, brought him closer to Quebecers. Invited to shine to reassure their own, several experienced politicians – like Boris Johnson and Jason Kenney – have rather failed.

At the height of the crisis, all governments were drinking information about COVID-19 and its spread. They were looking for landmarks all over the planet. This is why the disproportionate reaction to the contract awarded to McKinsey at the start of the pandemic by the Legault government could be surprising. McKinsey had been retained to offer consulting services, in particular for obtaining protective equipment for the health workers that all the countries of the world were tearing off.

Government employees play an important role in ensuring that the missions of a government are accomplished. That they have to occasionally bring in specialized skills from the private sector in the development of certain programs will come as no surprise to no one.

And no offense to all those who regret that we entrust these mandates to international companies like McKinsey — the expertise at the precise moment when it was needed was neither in Montreal nor in Mont-Laurier.

If in Quebec the taxpayers have just granted a good pass mark to the Legault government for its management of current affairs, the scene would not be repeated in Ottawa. The federal government’s mishandling of passports last summer shocked many Canadians. The Trudeau government knew that after two years of being sedentary, Canadians would want to move. Already possessing all the information on passport deadlines, how could he not have seen the train coming?

Many Canadians don’t know the expiry date of their passport — why isn’t it tied to the bearer’s date of birth (like a driver’s license)? Why doesn’t the government send a reminder email to all Canadians a year before their passport expires? And even in the processing of information, why does the federal government always give the impression of renewing an investigation worthy of Interpol on everyone? Both levels of government already have a lot of information about Canadians and should work together to simplify the process.

Ottawa had nevertheless shown initiative with the application ArriveCan, a very good idea wasted at the altar of the health obsession of the Trudeau government. Long before the arrival of the pandemic, crossings at Canadian airport borders had taken on the appearance of a way of the cross.

Some lucky guys, holding Nexus cards, avoided the crush as their less diligent colleagues arrived home two hours later. I am amazed that even today all cross-border passengers (Canadian or foreign) still have to meet an agent at the airport. At several international airports, including Heathrow in London, Canadians pass through automated counters. Agents posted after the counters carry out random checks.

In Canada, our agents look for drug importers (a tiny minority) and those whose purchases exceed the authorized limits (there are more…). But they’re not hardened criminals — they just don’t want to wait an extra hour to pay $80 in duty on a blouse they bought in Fort Lauderdale. But ask them if they would report all their purchases on an app where they could pay the fee up front and have access to a fast lane to avoid delays at the airport. For this reason alone, ArriveCan deserved to survive. Now that we know that Ottawa has spent a fortune on its development, its shelving overwhelms me.

Taxpayers don’t elect governments to hear them on the airwaves saying all their good stuff. They want services. Adapted to the modern era. At flexible hours. And on occasion, the solutions lie right out front — and even without using McKinsey!