Former Quebec Premier Jean Charest is seriously considering running for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), has learned The duty.
Asked since the resignation of the leader of the PCC, Erin O’Toole, last week, Mr. Charest is currently evaluating what follow-up to these calls, indicated a source in contact with him. “If he’s interested?” Absolutely, that’s clear. If he is evaluating? Yes,” we were told.
A long-time Conservative, close to Mr. Charest, also confirms his interest and predicts that he will decide within a week. “He knows he’s getting calls from everywhere so he can’t leave it hanging,” we were told.
A third source indicated that Mr. Charest is “very serious” in his thinking and that he has “a lot of support”.
Lawyer at McCarthy Tétrault, recently appointed administrator of the Canadian National, Mr. Charest must decide if he is ready to make the “sacrifice” that a return to the political arena represents.
On Wednesday, in Ottawa, Conservative MP Alain Rayes had already given a first signal. ” [M. Charest] is under consideration, from what I understand. And he will make his decision. And when it is taken, I am convinced that he will contact you very quickly,” he told reporters.
Earlier this week, Mr. Rayes had already revealed that he had sounded out Mr. Charest’s interest in being a candidate. The public support of the member for Richmond-Arthabaska in his favor is a game-changer, according to one of our sources. “It is fundamental. […] Mr. Charest finds himself in a position of strength,” we are told.
Because the member, who gave up his post as Quebec lieutenant of the party to regain the freedom to support a candidate, will bring with him an electoral organization. The majority of Quebec MPs would also agree with him and would like to see Mr. Charest in the ranks.
So far, only Ontario MP Pierre Poilievre has announced his intention to be a candidate to succeed Mr. O’Toole.
The rules of the race are not yet known, nor when the next leader will be chosen. One of our sources mentioned that September, as mentioned by several MPs, would be a good option.
“It would coincide with the return to the House and would offer a better media window, we argue. And that would give outsiders like Jean Charest more time to have the summer to campaign. »
Progressive Advantage
In 2020, Mr. Charest had given up on getting into the leadership race that led to the choice of Mr. O’Toole.
The rules adopted for the race were too restrictive for an outside candidate like him, he explained in an interview with Radio-Canada.
Mr. Charest had also indicated that the PCC had changed a lot since he had himself been its leader, at the end of the 1990s, before the merger with the Canadian Alliance. Much of the conservatives thus opposed abortion, gun control and carbon pricing.
According to information obtained by The duty, this latter reading would no longer be a factor in the analysis. The new element is that a candidacy by Mr. Charest could benefit from the unity of progressive forces within the Conservatives.
“Last time there was a division among the progressives, we were told. If Mr. Charest decided to go there, there would be a better chance that there would not be this division among the progressives. »
The objective would be to convince that Mr. Charest has the ability to occupy the center of the federal political spectrum. “There is an open window to find out who can beat Justin Trudeau, we summarize. This is where Jean Charest is very interesting. »
The fight is not won in advance, but that does not prevent Mr. Charest from weighing his chances as a candidate. “Of course it wouldn’t be easy, but he has an exceptional force of persuasion, and the fact remains that he understands the two solitudes”, we are assured, nevertheless underlining the immensity of the task.
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Senator Jean-Guy Dagenais, a member of the CPC, is ready to support Mr. Charest’s candidacy, as he did in 2020. He hopes that former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper will look favorably on a Mr. Charest’s candidacy, unlike the last race, when he had prepared to block his way by leaving the Conservative Fund on which he sat in order to get rid of his obligation of neutrality in the race.
“Mr. Harper, whom I greatly appreciate, will surely understand that if we don’t give Mr. Charest a chance, with Mr. Poilievre we won’t make any progress,” declared the senator.
According to Mr. Dagenais, the more radical right wing of the CCP, associated with the former Reform Party, does not represent the more progressive members of the formation. With Mr. Charest, the party could regain power thanks to gains in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
“If it doesn’t work this time, the party will split in two,” he predicted.
Mr. Dagenais, a former police officer, judges that the Mâchurer police investigation of the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC), which he describes as a “wet firecracker”, should not be an obstacle for Mr. Charest, who was in it. still one of the targets in 2020, when his candidacy was tipped in the race for the CCP.
In November, the UPAC indicated that the investigation, which concerns the financing of the Liberal Party of Quebec, continues, without further details about Mr. Charest.
In 2017, the CCP’s leadership contest rules excluded any candidate under criminal investigation. In 2020, candidates had to declare whether they were under investigation, but what happened next was less clear.
Mr. Dagenais, himself a former police officer, would like the CCP to be more flexible when it comes to criminal investigations. “Someone who is the subject of a police investigation can be a candidate, as long as there are no charges,” he said. Everyone can be the subject of a police investigation. »
In 2020, the prospective candidacy of Jean Charest had been coldly received by some in the Conservative ranks. In the West, some accused him of being a ” outsider who had opposed oil pipelines when he led the Quebec government, and who had defended the long-gun registry abolished at the time by Mr. Harper’s Conservative government.