Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) is working hard to ensure that her party retains its title of official opposition. In an editorial meeting, it was a dynamic and passionate woman who came to explain to The Press his party’s proposals.
Mme Anglade took the reins of the PLQ in May 2020. She embodies two historical firsts: the first woman to lead the PLQ and the first woman of color to lead a major Quebec political party. It also illustrates a theory in management, that of the “glass cliff” (cousin of the “glass ceiling”). This theory, confirmed many times in business circles, underlies that when a company or a political organization is in crisis, there is a tendency to appoint a woman or a candidate from a minority to straighten it out. Mme Anglade ticks both boxes.
But two years is very little to climb back up the cliff and pick up the pieces of a crumbling party.
Even though this party has a great history, and is at the origin of several important legacies of which Quebecers are proud, such as women’s right to vote, the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the nationalization of electricity, the health insurance card, the creation of the Caisse de depot et placement, etc.
Now, what is the Liberal Party of Quebec the name of today?
Difficult to answer this question.
With corruption scandals and budgetary austerity measures, the governments of Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard have done great damage to the liberal brand, which recruited its last candidates with difficulty and misery. The scars are still fresh, not to say bloody.
The identity of the PLQ does not become clearer when we read its electoral platform, in which we find proposals that go in all directions.
The party of the economy? The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) stole this title from him with its economic trio and the fervor of François Legault for economic development. And the mistakes in the QLP’s financial framework will have done nothing to reassure Quebeckers. Is it to distance itself from the austerity of the previous Liberal government? M’s planme Anglade is more spendthrift. It proposes tax cuts and removes the reserve of $2 billion a year to deal with economic uncertainty. However, it continues to invest in the Generations Fund until our debt ratio, which is 38% of GDP, reaches the Canadian average of 32%. The CAQ is reducing payments to the Generations Fund by 40% to finance its promises.
With its ECO project, is the QLP the party of the environment? In this case, the party of Mme Anglade was overtaken on his left by Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois, more ambitious and determined to make the environment a priority. Dominique Anglade’s obsession with green hydrogen does not arouse the enthusiasm of the population, even less that of the experts who question the efficiency gains. Yes, green hydrogen can be part of our energy portfolio, but it would be dangerous to bet everything on this new fuel.
When Mme Anglade talks about health, so there, we cringe. Not only do we not believe it when the Liberal leader promises a family doctor for every Quebecer, but it is impossible to listen to her talk about decentralization in the health network without bringing back the painful memory of her ex’s reforms. -colleague Gaétan Barrette.
This party has a credibility deficit in terms of health and the water will have to flow a little under the bridge before we can listen to its solutions.
When we ask M.me Anglade to sum up her party in one word, she suggests two: inclusive and modern. Modern is a catch-all word that doesn’t mean much. Inclusive is much more embodied in the mouth of Mme Anglade, herself the daughter of Haitian immigrants. It’s a word that sticks to his conception of Quebec society and we adhere to the idea of a Quebec that opens its arms, welcomes, integrates.
Would the PLQ be the party of immigration, then? We want to believe in her regionalist vision, even if we don’t really know how she will go about convincing newcomers to settle in Sept-Îles or Thetford Mines. As for the positions of Mme Anglade on Law 96 which reinforces the protection of French, it is an understatement to say that they were difficult to follow.
Mme Anglade offers an alternative to the paternalism embodied by François Legault and she certainly has the skills to be prime minister. But one person alone cannot rebuild a party as damaged as the Quebec Liberal Party, even if there are quality people like Marwah Rizqy, Frantz Benjamin or Fred Beauchemin in the ranks of his team. The problem of her political training goes beyond her. It is that of a party that was distinguished by its economic vision and its opposition to the sovereignty of Quebec and which, today, no longer has an identity. A party looking for a vision.