Let elected officials work together, beyond partisan lines, to advance the interests of the nation: a beautiful utopia that every citizen has, at least once in their life, hoped was possible.
Politicians – also citizens, after all – are well aware of this and sometimes try at least to pretend to work towards this ideal; or even actually achieve it.
Past success
In Quebec, we are witnessing one of these rapprochements, between François Legault and Québec solidaire.
The opportunity? A bill commonly called “Françoise David”, named after the founder and former spokesperson of QS. In 2016, she succeeded in having the law “modifying the Civil Code in order to protect the rights of elderly tenants” adopted.
- Listen to the political meeting between Antoine Robitaille and Benoît Dutrizac via QUB :
This prohibits the eviction of a person aged “70 or over” who has occupied their home “for at least 10 years” and has a modest income. That is to say “whose income is equal to or less than the maximum income” allowing them to be “eligible” for housing according to the Regulation on the allocation of low-income housing (RALLM).
This is one of the (too) rare examples, in the history of our parliamentarism, where a member of the opposition has succeeded in having a law adopted.
Seeking to build on this past success, QS did it again by proposing to tighten the three conditions of the law: the eligible age would become 65 years; the duration of occupation, 5 years; income, “equal to or less than 150%” of eligibility for RALLM.
Reconciliation
For QS, which is stagnating in the polls, it was a question of projecting the image of a constructive party, capable of doing something other than talking about “what is going wrong” (words from Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois on Tuesday).
However, François Legault took the trouble, on Tuesday, to respond in writing to a letter from GND in which the latter told him to be ready to compromise on the three aspects of the law.
Just think, “Duplessis” (as GND has already described him) wrote to the “Woke” (an epithet that Legault likes to attach to GND) to say that he appreciated the “outstretched hand”.
“Let’s look at this together, in good faith, and see if we can find reasonable solutions.” Qsist Christine Labrie, whom F. Legault has already called “Mother Teresa”, exulted yesterday in celebrating this “very encouraging response” from the PM.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
Annoyed PSPP
These quarrels seem to greatly annoy the PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who has the impression that the “Duplessis-Woke” rapprochement excludes him and is being done behind his back.
He even rejects the term “Françoise David law”, affirming that QS is thus seeking to do its “self-promotion, its marketing”. In his eyes, we are witnessing a “play” where GND feigned surprise at the opening of the CAQ, “while all this [était] negotiated and tied up,” grumbled PSPP.
There is no doubt that the CAQ and QS really want to help old tenants (may I avoid “elders”?). At the same time, PSPP understood that he was facing a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” type rapprochement in which he is a bit of a joke.