New year, same way of doing things for the head of the CAQ. François Legault completely erred by abandoning popular political financing in the hope of diverting attention from the unfortunate solicitations of his deputies.
François Legault had some great resolutions for 2024: find his compass, take a step back to avoid emotional reactions and not get distracted.
It didn’t take a full week for him to already throw his compass at the end of his arms.
Entangled in a controversy resembling a torture of gout, the CAQ leader has once again taken an unjustified turn of the wheel.
Municipal elected officials have the right, like all citizens, to donate $100 to help finance the political parties of their choice.
The problem with the recent allegations, some of which have led to investigations by the Ethics Commissioner, is that MPs have invited mayors or entrepreneurs, suggesting that they could benefit from privileged access to a minister by agreeing to pay to attend a cocktail party.
On Tuesday, the general director of the CAQ, Brigitte Legault, published an open letter in which she defended tooth and nail the party’s practices and the principle of popular financing.
“Soliciting and receiving donations from municipal elected officials is not only legal, but practiced by all political parties in Quebec, without exception,” she recalled, giving specific examples of deputies from other parties who have benefited from it.
Keep the $100
Minister Bernard Drainville, who adopted the political financing reform in 2012, also defended the maximum donation of $100 by answering questions from journalists in parliament.
“Because we want citizens to be able to continue to support their deputies in fundraising activities or otherwise. To ensure that citizens can give their support to an idea, to a party,” he insisted.
So why the hell did the leader decide to throw the baby out with the bathwater the next day, by announcing that the CAQ would immediately stop collecting donations from citizens, and asking other parties to do the same ?
Bad strategy
If Mr. Legault thought he would shift the attention to the other parties and place them in an awkward situation, he failed. No one believes that it would be a good idea to prevent Quebecers from participating in the democratic process by contributing to a party that defends their values.
Angry to see his integrity attacked by the opposition parties, perhaps he wanted to put a dose of pressure on them so that they give up significant sums of money for the next electoral campaign.
That would be petty. With the percentage of votes cast in 2022, the ruling party is the one that receives the lion’s share of public funding guaranteed by the DGE, and which depends the least on popular donations.
Not to mention that a nascent party needs this financial support from individuals to take off.
In 2011, the movement created by François Legault and Charles Sirois, which was called the Coalition for the Future of Quebec, had started collecting donations even before its transformation into a political party.
There is surely a way to maintain a healthy balance between popular and public financing of political groups.
We just need to change the old tradition of MPs boosting their fundraising activities by promising privileged access to ministers.
That’s all.