MP Gaétan Barrette will be the right soldier. He will submit without flinching to the sanction imposed by his boss, Dominique Anglade, last Saturday, and he intends to remain in the liberal caucus until the end of the mandate, even if he allows himself to express reservations about the style. leadership of the latter.
He is not yet ready to officially announce it, but he will not seek another term, and will therefore end his political career in October 2022.
This is what The Canadian Press learned, from a reliable Liberal source, on Friday.
For a week, since his boss took away all his parliamentary functions, the member for La Pinière has been very discreet. He was not seen again in parliament, he did not participate in caucuses of his political party, refused all interview requests and did not give any sign of life to his colleagues.
In the corridors of parliament, it did not take more for rumors of all kinds to circulate, everyone wondering how the former Minister of Health, with a reputed bloody temperament, was going to react to this rebuff, by accepting it with good grace or by slamming the door to sit as an independent?
Information obtained from sources close to the deputy suggests that Mr. Barrette seriously considered the issue and considered various scenarios, including that of leaving caucus, before finally choosing to remain with the Liberal team, without making any changes. waves.
We will therefore see him again in parliament next week and he will take part in the next caucuses, we are assured. He also intends to participate in the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) convention, which will be held at the end of the month in Quebec.
He therefore decided to swallow the snake, even if he was completely surprised by the turn of events and he still believes he has nothing to be ashamed of.
Anglade badly advised?
Gaétan Barrette did not expect to suffer such a sanction and wonders – without contesting them – about the leadership style and the mode of management of the Liberal caucus favored by the leader of the official opposition, ways of doing that he apparently considers questionable and that he attributes to outside influences, he confided to those around him.
According to Dr. Barrette, it is indicated, Dominique Anglade cannot count on his personal guard to make sound decisions. It would be badly advised, in his opinion.
According to our information, he also believes that Ms. Anglade made insulting remarks against him at a press conference this week, when she suggested that to be a liberal candidate in 2022 you would need people capable of working as a team, a quality that Mr. Barrette would not possess.
Over the past few months, Ms Anglade has repeatedly hinted that Mr Barrette is not in his plans for the 2022 poll.
It all started last Saturday, following an exchange of tweets between the member for La Pinière and the member for Maurice-Richard, Marie Montpetit, who was the health spokesperson.
The chief reproached Mr. Barrette for two things: for continuously commenting on the health file on social networks, criticizing the attitude and speech of the doctors, when it was not his file, and also for having been surprised to share a meal with the chief of staff of the Prime Minister, without having informed anyone of his team. Ms. Montpetit reproached her for having publicly rebuked her colleague.
Ms. Anglade therefore decided on Saturday to withdraw all their parliamentary functions from the two deputies, as a sanction. Subsequently, due to allegations of psychological harassment against the member for Maurice-Richard, Ms. Montpetit received an additional sanction, by being excluded from the Liberal caucus.
Since then, the PLQ has been in a state of shock and in a state of crisis, a few months before the next election campaign.