The latest disaster polls for the CAQ place François Legault in a delicate situation vis-à-vis Quebecers, but perhaps even more so within his party. Although the 88 CAQ deputies owe their victory to their leader and his once exceptional popularity, they will quickly demand action to try to reverse the situation.
He must therefore quickly reassure his elected officials that this is only a difficult moment to get through, and therefore, several strategies are available to him.
- Listen to political analyst Elsie Lefebvre on Yasmine Abdelfadel via QUB :
Cabinet reshuffle
The most significant would be a ministerial reshuffle, a question of moving the cards, shaking up certain ministers, motivating others; cleaning up and bringing in recruits. However, results are not guaranteed.
Talk to Justin Trudeau, his reshuffle had no impact.
By-elections
The exercise can also prove perilous, because it will necessarily create unfortunate people who could leave the ship, provoking, in the worst scenario, a by-election. We remember the cold shower received by the CAQ in Jean-Talon and the momentum that this gave to the PQ. Reliving this episode a second time is necessarily the PM’s worst nightmare.
Defector at Éric Duhaime
The other scenario to avoid following a reshuffle would be to cause a CAQ member to leave for another party. Éric Caire, a drag for the CAQ, but of AQist origins, would be a possibly interesting candidate to recruit for Eric Duhaime’s Conservative Party of Quebec. A single deputy, like Claire Samson, would allow Éric Duhaime to formalize his entry into the National Assembly. Nothing to help the Caquistes in the Quebec region. A scenario to avoid and which ensures Éric Caire remains in the office.
- Listen to political analyst Elsie Lefebvre speaking to Richard Martineau via QUB :
Clean up the staff and keep elected officials busy
There therefore remain two actions known to those around François Legault, since they were used at the time by Bernard Landry, then threatened by the ambitious François Legault and Pauline Marois: occupy the elected officials. Each elected official is entrusted with responsibilities, a mission within the party.
We also do a little housekeeping around the boss, not the chief of staff, who is a trusted person and pillar of the boss; we bring in new blood.
We will explain to elected officials that positive results will take time to materialize, that we must be patient. The leader is thus in the saddle for another year without much dispute.