The image counts enormously in politics, even more in our hypermediatized societies obsessed with the look. This series examines how party leaders in the election campaign use their representations to seduce the electorate.
François Legault may speak slowly, with calm and reassuring gestures to mark each of his words, inside, he is a man boiling and in a hurry.
At least that’s what former PQ minister Louise Harel, who was also parliamentary leader at his side, remembers when he was Minister of Education under the government of Lucien Bouchard, between 1998 and 2001. For François Legault , she believes, the campaign’s game is over. Might as well end it as soon as possible.
“It’s an expeditious thing,” she said in an interview. Since the beginning of the campaign, I tell myself that he must find the long time. For him, it’s done, the polls confirm it. He has a considerable lead. His reaction must be the same as he had when he sat as a member of Parliament or as a minister. Which means [pour lui] debates are pointless. »
This attitude, François Legault could have inherited from the business world, where he cut his teeth. “He is a bit like other people I have known who come from the private sector”, continues Mme Harel.
His worst enemy
“His biggest adversary is himself,” adds former Liberal minister Nathalie Normandeau, now a radio host. We saw it, very recently, when he had to explain himself on several occasions about a connection he made between violence and immigration. “He takes shortcuts,” she says.
Still, the man has enjoyed exceptional media coverage throughout the pandemic. Invited daily on the small screen of Quebecers, he religiously gave his instructions to keep the people healthy.
In this context, his manners as a good family man, his down-to-earth speech, without lyrical flight, even without brilliance, faithful to his mother and his children, could not fall on more fertile soil.
“The pandemic allowed him to be in the campaign for months, with a daily presence on screen. That, there is no one who can beat that,” says Mireille Lalancette, professor of political communication at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières.
From a father, especially in times of crisis, one expects less tinsel, panache, than perseverance and regularity, even humility.
“His image has improved a lot during the pandemic, notes the political columnist of the To have to Michael David. In fact, his faults, all that he was reproached for, have become qualities. When he was in opposition, people looked down on him. It was said that he was down to earth, that he was not capable of defending big ideas. All this has turned in his favor, it is now said that he is close to people, that he does not take himself for another… ”
A limited vocabulary
But François Legault remains “a blunderer”, he notes, whose relatively limited vocabulary does not allow nuance, and sometimes makes him seem “clumsy, too square”.
“François Legault is not a great speaker, neither in English nor in French, confirms Mireille Lalancette. He presents himself as a good manager who kept his promises. The pandemic has made him humble, he says: “I have adjusted”.
For Nathalie Normandeau, there is no question for François Legault to wear expensive jackets or flamboyant ties. The man may have married Isabelle Brais, who once had a clothing store on rue Laurier, he sports a discreet dress profile. It is Isabelle Brais who advises him on this subject, however, and it is also her, he said to the whole of Quebec, who cut his hair during the pandemic.
Since then, François Legault has been waiting for the elections with a smile on his face, shaking hands, responding to criticism without getting upset… most of the time. “I expect to be attacked,” he said proudly last week, referring to his lead in the polls, a few days before the televised debate which pitted him against the other leaders last Thursday.
Analysts found him less efficient there, his nose fitted with new glasses which, according to some comments, gave him an aged and tired look, as if alone at the top in the midst of a pack of ambitious talkers.
It must be said that he is the oldest of the chefs in the running and also the one with the most experience.
“He has aged, and that has the advantage of being the oldest of the five chefs,” comments Nathalie Normandeau. He has the experience and he has all his political baggage. At the same time, it can be a disadvantage, when it has to embody change, rather than stability and continuity. “He is sometimes less energetic,” she adds. The other chefs are young and dynamic. Will it play into the balance? ” To ask the question, is to answer it.