Jean Charest will launch his campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada in Calgary on Thursday, just to show that he has support in western Canada. We understand the strategic importance of doing so.
Posted yesterday at 6:00 a.m.
But, in Quebec, Mr. Charest still has a reputation to repair and he might as well get down to it quickly if he doesn’t want to have bad surprises.
Mr. Charest was defeated in the 2012 election and for 10 years he has chosen to stay away from the public arena. We can hardly blame him for this when we know that he was still under investigation by UPAC, the anti-corruption unit he had created himself.
But just because he won’t be facing criminal charges doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an explanation to give on ethical issues involving him and on which he never really expressed.
For example, the report of the Charbonneau commission spoke of a link, at least indirect, between the financing of the Liberal Party of Quebec and certain government contracts. We also learned that he required his ministers to collect $100,000 a year in party contributions. We also know that he hid for a very long time the fact that he received an additional salary from his party in addition to that of parliamentarian.
However, it was not the interview requests or the forums that he missed.
Anyone who reads what’s posted on social media or has an email account that receives public comment knows that there are still a lot of people who are confused by all of this. Obviously, we must not confuse those who speak and the majority, but the fact remains that Mr. Charest has not made his peace with many Quebecers on these issues.
And we will also have to talk about a decidedly modest record of his decade as prime minister. Where is his James Bay? Where is his law 101? Where are its Early Childhood Centers? In short, what is the legacy, where is the signature of Jean Charest in the history of Quebec?
His great victory in Quebec politics, he won it even before becoming Prime Minister. In the 1998 elections when he won the popular vote, despite not having a majority of seats in the National Assembly.
In doing so, he completely broke the momentum towards a new referendum for which the Parti Québécois was still looking for “winning conditions”. It’s an important victory, after all, he came to Quebec politics for that.
But it seems that after the tide turned, Mr. Charest was able to spend the next 10 years winning elections just by saying the word “referendum”, as Quebeckers didn’t want to hear about it.
Until his last mandate, which was marked by a student crisis which could have been settled quickly with negotiations, but which his stubbornness lasted for months. And especially by allegations of corruption which will have led to the investigation of the Charbonneau commission.
Like what one can be a politician who knows how to win elections and last in power without making an impression as having been a great prime minister.
This is how Jean Charest returns to the political scene after a 10-year eclipse. With very little indication of the type of prime minister he intends to be.
In the few statements attributed to him, one can already find certain ambiguities. In an interview at Globe and Mail, a few days ago, he said he wanted to campaign like a “Blue Conservative” and not like a “Red Tory”, the name often given to the more progressive wing of the party. However, it was Quebec deputies, like Alain Rayes, who call themselves progressive-conservatives who asked him to enter the race.
Similarly, when he met with the Conservative caucus last week, he reminded Alberta MPs that as premier he had supported the energy east pipeline project. A project that the current Premier of Quebec has described as having “no social acceptability” and which has since been abandoned by its promoter. Beautiful debates in prospect with the government of Quebec.
But before wondering what kind of prime minister he could be in Ottawa, he will have to win an election against Justin Trudeau or (more likely) another Liberal leader.
And it is essentially on this that Mr. Charest will base his race for the leadership of the PCC. On the invitation of his campaign launch in Calgary, we find what will undoubtedly be his campaign slogan: Jean Charest: Built to win. Made to win.
And, for the next few months, that’s the only thing he’s going to talk about to a party that has suffered three defeats in a row: winning!