Even before the official launch of the election campaign — the Prime Minister has the privilege of choosing a date between August 25 and August 29 — in view of the October 3 election, a particular active pre-election campaign began.
It is one of the perverse effects of fixed-date elections, to prolong the state of electoral feverishness where partisan solicitation reigns and which pushes the party in power to a mixture of genres: we do not always know if we are dealing with members of government or candidates seeking re-election.
Last Friday, the Minister of Families, Mathieu Lacombe, in tandem with the Deputy Prime Minister, Geneviève Guilbault – another elected CAQ member, Joëlle Boutin, was also in the game – unveiled a flagship promise of the family policy of the Coalition avenir Québec, as it will appear in the CAQ electoral platform. The minister had already mentioned in the past the government’s intention to convert commercial child care centres. Thanks to this pre-campaign, it therefore announced a commitment to convert these non-subsidized spaces into subsidized spaces at $8.50 per day within five years, like the rest of the network. However, he had to specify that he was not speaking as a minister, but as a candidate in the riding of Papineau.
Similarly, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, did not wait for the launch of the campaign to make public another element of the CAQ platform, the creation of the Agence Santé Québec. We also have to believe that it was the candidate in La Prairie who was speaking.
At the beginning of June, François Legault had indicated that there would be no government announcements from July 1. There was one exception to this instruction. Three days before the commitment made by candidate Mathieu Lacombe, it was as Prime Minister that François Legault launched the new fall vaccination campaign against COVID-19. This is justified: the candidate continues after all to assume his responsibility as Prime Minister.
“We continue to protect ourselves”, proclaimed the poster placed in front of the protagonists during this press conference. Well, the CAQ has just unveiled its slogan: Let’s continue. It is a strange coincidence since it is not a question of continuing to suffer from the pandemic, but rather of allowing the government to continue its work, it must be understood.
The caquiste slogan may seem disconcertingly banal, but in a sense, it is singular. It is often said that a party in power should not campaign on its record. The party in power tries the blow with this theme which it will seek to decline in future achievements. It must be said that in 2018, the CAQ had chosen a slogan which also held only one word – Now – but whose meaning was diametrically opposed.
For his part, Éric Duhaime, proud of his bus, launched the campaign of the Conservative Party of Quebec on Sunday, a campaign that will therefore extend over 43 days. He has already reacted by stoking the ardor of his bitter activists with borderline remarks, treating his political opponents as enemies and affirming that he was going to “settle his case with Legault”. We can say that he is like a tennis player who aims for the lines: sometimes it overflows.
We now know the slogan of each of the five main parties. Dominique Anglade took the lead by making public in mid-June the electoral platform of the Liberal Party of Quebec, an attempt to prove that it too exists. For their part, Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois have begun to make commitments. Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois is already beating the ground in the region. And the exhilarating poster showing it with Manon Massé looking away in opposite directions in front of a red rising sun has everything from communist iconography.
What will be the effect of such a long election campaign, formal and informal, on the electorate? It is true that at the end of the summer, the voters still listen little to the messages of the parties. But one can wonder if weariness and indifference will not take over, which risks favoring the party in power.
One thing is certain, this period of several months during which the advertising expenses of the parties are not accounted for poses a problem. The Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec (DGEQ), Pierre Reid, opened up about it, believing that pre-election spending must be limited. While a cap applies when the campaign officially kicks off, wealthier parties have an advantage if they can spend lavishly before it does. The DGEQ is right to insist on the importance of giving equal opportunity to all political parties.