Pandemic holidays | The Press

Summer is made to forget, at least in politics.

The trend is what makes politicians humble: it’s when they disappear that their popularity improves. The government satisfaction rate usually increases a little bit during the summer.

This relieves prime ministers of their guilt when they go on vacation. And this year, it’s even truer. After two years of pandemic and unpleasant health restrictions, the population does not really want to see its leaders.

During the most recent wave — should we still count them? —, François Legault and his Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, were of a rare discretion. No press conference. No new measures or official policy announcements to deal with the rise in cases.

They let Public Health do the job. The D^r Boileau presented wearing a mask as an individual choice, while it reduces the risk of contaminating others. Even without imposing it, it would have been desirable to recommend it more clearly during the rise in cases in July. But MM. Legault and Dubé did not intervene. They wanted to put the pandemic behind them.

Strategically, however, the CAQ approach is understandable. The government was afraid of not being listened to, in every sense of the word. Those who picked up the news would not have heard the message, and it would have been difficult for others to join.

The yo-yo of measurements has often been denounced, but it does not come out of nowhere. It is also explained by the difficulty of rallying the population.

The problem was not so much the fluctuation of the measurements as their delay compared to the waves which were observed in Europe, and which were therefore predictable.

In Ottawa, the strategy was different. Justin Trudeau has been more active. In July, he flew more distance than in the entire previous summer. From a Charlottetown pub to the Calgary Stampede, Mr. Trudeau has participated in several events. He hammered home the usual message: the government is “there for you”, “there to help you” and “working hard to protect you”.

The formula did not go over well… Because at the same time, videos were circulating of the painful wait in airports or at passport offices.

Ottawa waited a long time before releasing certain health measures, such as wearing a mask and the vaccination passport on interprovincial trains. This created a discrepancy with the Quebec measures. Most importantly, it harmed their credibility and future acceptability. Letting the population breathe a little would have helped justify the possible return of restrictions in the fall, when the next rise in cases.

The virus has not disappeared, and vigilance must remain constant. But summer also serves to breathe a little. If we take advantage of this, future instructions will be easier to follow.

Mr. Trudeau suffers from this wear and tear on power and from the growing gap between his reassuring messages and the reality on the ground. While he repeats his faith in values ​​and moral principles, people suffer from inflation, housing prices and failures of public administration.

They see their prime minister talking about mutual aid, hand on heart, while the state is unable to provide basic services such as issuing passports. It’s hard to believe in liberal solidarity after hanging around for two hours while waiting to speak to an agent from the Revenue Agency…

In the spring, Mr. Trudeau’s dissatisfaction rate was between 43% and 45%. This summer, it belies the usual trend. During the holidays, this rate rose to 51%. His worst result since he came to power in 2015. The trend is heavy and it does not bode well for him.

In Quebec, the opposite is observed. According to a new Léger poll, Mr. Legault gained three percentage points. The only chef to have declined in popularity this summer is Éric Duhaime. It’s no surprise — he’s banking on anger, a fire that loses fuel in the summer.

François Legault returned from his vacation on Friday to be photographed receiving his second booster dose.

One could hope that if the government was discreet this summer, it was active behind the cameras to act in prevention, for example by breaking down the classes. I repeat the verb: “hope”. As in the expression: hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

It remains to be seen whether he will be able to listen to his experts in the event of a rise in cases at the beginning of the fall. Because it will be at the end of the electoral campaign. Public acceptance will not be the only problem. There will also be the credibility of decision-makers. Will Mr. Legault instrumentalize the pandemic, as Justin Trudeau did last year? Or will he try to pretend she doesn’t exist anymore, in order to purr towards victory?

He will be both prime minister and party leader. Two hats that don’t always go well together.