Although they repeated, like a mantra, that the watchwords are “discipline” and “coherence”, we must believe that the boots did not walk the talk during this parliamentary re-entry. While questions arise about how to invite elected officials and other stakeholders into a cocktail of partisan financing, and it is a storm in a teacup played up by political adversaries , it was enough to derail the fragile train of government discipline.
The useless bazooka
Rather than recognizing that the manner in which his invitations were made was clumsy and relying on the Ethics Commissioner’s investigation report to move on, Ministers Roberge and Drainville opened the door to the end of popular financing of political parties. The Prime Minister even announced that his party is completely putting an end to popular financing. Mind-blowing!
They took out the bazooka to shoot the fly.
Especially since the extension of this decision to the entire political class, which would be a catastrophe for our democracy and the vitality of political activism, all parties combined, does not seem to have been the aim of no prior discussion either in the Caucus caucus or in the Council of Ministers. It is therefore to manage a crisis, ultimately minor, that we are offering to fully finance political parties directly from the pockets of taxpayers.
But what were they thinking?
This reminds us of the “let’s dig up the third link” operation the day after the failure of the by-election in Jean-Talon. Rather than accepting the defeat, the criticism, recognizing their wrongs and moving on in order to change the news cycle, the CAQ have the bad habit of themselves fueling a cycle that is unfavorable to them and on which they are on the defensive. It’s frankly lunar.
Failed return to school
We believed that the holiday break would allow them to realize that these reflexes are not to their advantage and to change strategy, it is clear that the adage “hunt the natural, it comes back at a gallop” is particularly relevant. about when it comes to government.
The first week of resumption of parliamentary work should therefore be forgotten for the Caquistes who hoped to turn the page on the slippages of 2023 and start the new year in a better context.