(Quebec) It was the end of the parliamentary session in Quebec on Friday. There is only one left before the election campaign begins. And the approach of the poll has tainted the record of party leaders. Report.
The gap will narrow with the opposition, predicts Legault
Largely in the lead in the polls, Prime Minister François Legault expects to lose his lead over the opposition parties. “I think it will tighten in the coming months,” he said, seeking to temper expectations. He says he prefers to consider this scenario, because we must not be “too optimistic”. “I have enough experience in politics to know that polls can change quickly,” he said. As I repeated to members of Parliament and ministers, we must not take anything for granted, we will have an election in 2022 and we must stay the course. ”
Throughout the session, he maintained his refusal to launch an independent public inquiry into the management of the pandemic, a repeated request from the opposition parties. “I continue to take my share of responsibility for what happened” in the CHSLDs, he said. Nearly 4,000 people died there due to COVID-19 during the first wave, in the spring of 2020. He recalled that “all the specialists around the table” in Quebec City expected hospitals to be overwhelmed, not the CHSLDs. “Knock on the heads of the specialists that we have at Public Health by saying” how come they did not see this coming “, listen, me, I am not ready to throw stones”, a asserted Mr. Legault. When filing a damning report from the Ombudsperson, he said: “It’s easy to play platform manager. ”
The Prime Minister welcomed the strength of the economic recovery and the low unemployment rate. While he will put an end to the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons, he indicated that he wants “to give as little compensation as possible” to the twenty companies holding licenses.
PLQ: “We’re going to elections”
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Dominique Anglade, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party
Despite an autumn marked by internal problems, the liberal leader, Dominique Anglade, claims to have succeeded in “closing the loop” of the progressive and environmental turn that she wishes to operate within her training. “There are different milestones that have been set [pendant les derniers mois] and the congress was important to get our message out, ”she explained in an interview. “Now we have reached: we are going to elections! She therefore considers that she now has free rein to lead her troops to the next general election.
“I think that my leadership is fully assumed and we have the Liberal Party ready to fight in 2022”, she launched during her session report where she underlined what an “Anglade government” would have done different during the session. The lifting of the health emergency, the reopening of the emergency services, as in Senneterre, she cited. His training would have better “anticipated” the labor shortage and high inflation. Regarding the expulsion of her deputy Marie Montpetit, due to allegations of psychological harassment, she does not deny that the decision was “difficult” to make, but says that “it is part of the leadership that you must assume as leader ”.
QS presents itself as “the most effective opposition”
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire
Québec solidaire believes that it has demonstrated this fall to be “the most effective opposition” and “the real alternative” to the Legault government, less than a year from the next elections. The last session was marked by the entry on the scene of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois as parliamentary leader at the Blue Room, which gave rise to several strong discussions with the Prime Minister. “What I have seen in recent weeks is a Prime Minister who loses control when Quebec solidaire puts him in front of his contradictions,” said Mr. Nadeau-Dubois on Friday. “I think we disturb François Legault because our priorities are his weaknesses,” he added.
Québec solidaire considers that it has made it possible to make the third link between Québec and Lévis “a national debate” by “unmasking [cette] gigantic deception ”and hounded the government on the issues of social housing, the environment and the quality of life of families, in particular. The political party feels the wind turning in its favor on the ground while the “contrast between the ideas of Quebec solidaire and the vision of François Legault is more and more clear”. Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois remains lucid and recognizes that “nothing is won” for 2022.
PQ: “Exactly where we want to be”
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Québécois
The leader of the Parti Québécois refuses to let himself be defeated in the face of polls unfavorable to his political party and replies, on the contrary, that his troops “have a very great growth potential” one year before the next election. “In fact, we are exactly where we want to be,” said Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, Friday. Not sitting in the National Assembly, he believes that the PQ players were able to do well during the last session, especially on the environment, with the tabling of a bill on the just transition and the adoption of a carbon budget, and the protection of French.
“Thanks to this session, we have a position on several issues which are essential, fundamental for Quebecers, a position which is ours, which is sincere and which is unique to the Parti Québécois,” he stressed. Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon remains convinced that his formation will know how to seduce the Caquists “disappointed with nationalism” of François Legault and to attract the voters who consider that Quebec solidaire does not put forward enough the project of independence. The PQ leader always leaves suspense on the choice of the constituency where he will seek the votes in 2022.
“Victory” for the PCQ, impact on the SQ
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, ARCHIVES THE CANADIAN PRESS
Éric Duhaime, leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec
The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ), Éric Duhaime, welcomed an “important victory” at the end of the session, while MP Claire Samson won her battle to be part of the consultation process of the National Assembly with a view to appointing the next boss of the Sûreté du Québec. “The CAQ was forced to back down because they had violated the privileges of Mme Claire Samson as parliamentarian ”by excluding her from the discussions provided for in the law, he said. “They had to start the process all over again. ”
The government candidate is the current interim director general of the SQ, Johanne Beausoleil. His appointment, which must receive the support of two-thirds of the deputies in the Chamber, was postponed until the resumption of work in February. Because Claire Samson “wants to take the time to think” and “check some references on the candidacy”. “If it was that important to them others, they would have done the process in the right way. I have a good habit of treating people as respectfully as they treat me. So, I do not see why I would get a stomach ulcer, ”launched the ex-Caquist at the end of his first session under the conservative banner.