Jean Charest gave way to caricature—the Conquest of the West—by officially launching his campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party in Calgary. As for being there, how about a cowboy hat?
Senator Leo Housakos, who supported him in his first attempt in 1993, called the former prime minister a “conservative of convenience” and a man of the past. It must indeed be quite infuriating for these emulators of the American right, of which Pierre Poilievre is the hero, to see a man pretend to lead them after having made a career for years by presenting himself as the apostle of “liberal values”.
Admittedly, Mr. Charest himself would have been quite incapable of writing the little work on the subject that he had commissioned from Claude Ryan in 2002, in order to give himself some intellectual grounding, but he gave the impression of adhering wholeheartedly about him.
“These values, firmly rooted in our history, are still the keys that allow us to open the doors of the future and meet its challenges with commitment and fervor. At a time when some seem to forget that politics is above all a desire to change society in order to improve it, ”he wrote in the preface.
Come to think of it, Mr. Charest could use exactly the same words, with the same sincerity, to defend Conservative values. Politics is an area where recycling is highly developed.
The member for Richmond-Arthabaska, Alain Rayes, who became its most ardent promoter after having acted as Quebec lieutenant of Andrew Scheer, who could certainly not be described as a progressive, was not mistaken: Mr. Charest is indeed a political beast for whom values are essentially a matter of marketing.
Certainly, any good politician must know how to take advantage of circumstances and seize the opportunity when it arises, but Mr. Charest’s back and forth between the Canadian and Quebec scenes is unique in the annals. When you manage to overcome the outrage that your years in power can cause, the observation of this true chameleon is fascinating. No Quebec Premier, even a federalist, could even have imagined serving Quebec and Canada alternately.
When you don’t believe in the reality of climate change, the prospect of having the initiator of the carbon market as leader must certainly be unbearable. When we dream of a “second amendment” that would enshrine the right to bear arms, we do not want to be led by an ardent defender of the gun registry either.
Pierre Poilievre’s supporters may have terrible ideas, but they really believe in them, to the point of preferring to stay in opposition rather than give it up. How could they swear allegiance to a man who is simply “built to win”, no matter at what cost?
The “progressive conservatives”, who see Mr. Charest in their soup, are probably under no illusions about the sincerity of his convictions. They simply want to win, even if it means turning a blind eye to the scandalous practices of the party he led for 14 years and which Mr. Poilievre will make a point of recalling to satiety.
We have almost ended up forgetting that before becoming leader of the Bloc Québécois and Premier of Quebec, Lucien Bouchard was a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative who was part of the same government as Jean Charest, whom he had slammed the door on because he reproached his young colleague for having chaired a committee which recommended a watering down of the Meech Lake accord which he himself deemed unacceptable.
That did not prevent him from giving his blessing to the person sent to Quebec by the federalist camp in 1998 to prevent it from holding a third referendum. “My friend Jean Charest,” he said on Tuesday.
Between two evils, you have to know how to choose the lesser. François Legault will not interfere in the race for the Conservative Party, but we do not see how he could wish for the election of Mr. Poilievre, who would be unbeatable, even if his conception of federalism corresponds more to the autonomist aspirations of the CAQ than the centralizing vision of the liberals.
If Mr. Charest wins the race, it will be quite tasty to see Mr. Legault discover affinities with the one who is suing his government in court for leaks from the Chewing surveynow abandoned, and which has doubled the amount claimed since the Deputy Prime Minister, Geneviève Guilbault, brandished a copy of the book in the National Assembly PLQ inc., on which the face of the former Liberal leader appears in close-up. Let’s bet on an amicable settlement.