(Quebec) The only king and master of opinion polls for years, Prime Minister François Legault, however, fears having to suffer a decline in his government’s popularity as the next electoral deadline approaches.
For months, opposition parties have been hammering, day after day, that the government mismanaged the first wave of the pandemic, while 4,000 seniors have died of COVID-19 in CHSLDs, often in horrible conditions. CHSLDs, they argue, have been the blind spot of the pandemic and by dint of hitting this nail, their message could end up percolating into public opinion.
So far, the government has escaped unscathed. But until when ?
From one poll to the next, voters’ support for François Legault and his party, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), does not seem to want to weaken. It has reached stratospheric heights that the opposition parties must envy.
If nothing changes, and if we trust a whole series of past polls, everything indicates that the Legault government is heading for an easy, resounding victory, in October 2022.
But Mr. Legault says he refuses to sell the skin of the bear before having killed it.
The gap between the parties “will narrow in the coming months”, he predicted, Friday, in a press conference, on the sidelines of the end of the parliamentary session, the penultimate before the next election.
He says he refuses to be “too optimistic”, saying he has “enough experience in politics to know that the polls can change quickly.”
“I prefer to watch this scenario, to watch that it can change. I think it can tighten up. Let’s make sure that we deserve the trust of Quebeckers, county by county, ”said Mr. Legault, adding that he did not want to take anything for granted.
Except that with such scores, it will undoubtedly be more difficult to keep its troops mobilized and motivated, the victory appearing at hand without effort to provide.
In 2018, the CAQ seized power with 37% of the vote, forming a majority government. Today, the party would seek 46% of support. Among Francophones, the base of the Caquist electorate, voter support climbs to 52%, according to the latest Léger poll, carried out at the end of November, which confirmed a strong trend.
According to the QC125 projection site, directed by Philippe J. Fournier, François Legault would currently seek 97 of the 125 seats in the National Assembly, 22 more than currently. We might as well say that it would sweep away Quebec, except the Island of Montreal, which is largely liberal, leaving crumbs for the other parties.
One way to maintain popular favor will be to stand in front of the electorate having kept their election promises.
We are still far from the mark, however, and time is running out for the government, because it only has a brief session left, from February to June, to introduce and pass the bills that are close to its heart. before having to ask the population for a second term.
Medical assistance in dying
Prime Minister Legault on Friday indicated his intention to move forward with the idea of legalizing advance requests for medical assistance in dying, for people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“I wish to act on that side” during the next session, he said. It is the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, who will be responsible for transforming the recommendations of the report of the special commission on end-of-life care, tabled this week, into a bill.
“I want, because Quebeckers want it, that we expand medical assistance in dying”, he added, anxious that the legislator ensures the guidelines to be erected “to avoid slippages”.
Artist status
During the 2018 election campaign, the CAQ made a commitment to respond to a pressing demand from the cultural community: to modernize the two laws on the status of the artist, so as to take into account the current realities of the world of work.
Three and a half years later, the Minister of Culture, Nathalie Roy, has still not tabled any bill.
Relaunched on Friday, the Prime Minister reaffirmed his willingness to move forward. “Yes, I intend to act before the end of the mandate”, in this case, he assured.
Other laws to come
The legislative menu for the next session promises to be full because several bills tabled, and not least, still have to go through several other stages before their adoption.
This is particularly the case with Bill 96, which proposes a vast reform of Bill 101 and which is now at the clause-by-clause study stage.
It is sponsored by Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, as is Bill 2, which will modify the Civil Code, by drawing up a legal framework for the use of surrogate mothers, while reviewing the concepts of sex and gender.
Among the other bills to watch over the winter and next spring, note Bill 1, led by Minister Mathieu Lacombe, which will modernize the supervision of childcare services, and Bill 15, sponsored by the Minister Lionel Carmant, who will aim to implement a new approach in the Youth Protection Department (DYP), more focused on the needs of the child.