Shaken by the party’s fall in voting intentions, CAQ deputies also say they are stunned by the emotional behavior of their leader François Legault, whom some of them perceive as a “clueless leader.”
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“He shook us all the day after the defeat in Jean-Talon. There is real disorientation, it’s worrying.”
This sentence, uttered by an elected official who requested anonymity, well sums up the state of stupor in which members of the CAQ family find themselves, observing their leader in recent months.
Throughout discussions with different sources, there is a common thread: everything has collapsed since the abandonment of the promise of the third road link between Quebec and Lévis.
For citizens of the National Capital, it was a betrayal, but in other regions which are not concerned in theory, it is a symbol of a breakdown of trust.
“Something happened that is difficult to grasp even from the inside. We look at each other and say to ourselves: when is someone in the government going to really explain to us what happened?” confides another MP, describing a feeling of incomprehension in the caucus, with regard to their own government.
This elected official, from outside Quebec, believes that the fundamental commitment was broken for a reason “out of nowhere” and that since then, a feeling has spread that the CAQ takes people “for suitcases”.
And the Kings
Then there was the crushing in Jean-Talon, the surprise decision of François Legault to resurrect the third link, then the subsidy for the holding of two exhibition games of the Los Angeles Kings in Quebec.
An “indefensible” decision, says a member of the caucus, while another points out that not only is he against it, “but we are paying $7 million to go down in the polls.”
Two deputies, Eric Girard and Luc Provençal, publicly affirmed that this subsidy did not correspond to their values on Wednesday.
On the other hand, this open protest fell silent the next day.
At the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, a core group pleaded for François Legault to signal the end of recess at the evening caucus.
According to our information, the leader then insisted to his deputies. Criticisms must be formulated internally, so as not to create a “climate of distrust” and an “impression of disorder”, particularly harmful in a context of power struggle with public sector union members.
François Legault was well aware of this subsidy, but was not suspicious.
“We misjudged the anger that the population is experiencing, citizens are on edge,” we explain.
There have been other examples of disconnection from the real world.
The 30% salary increase that the deputies voted for has left its mark, while the CAQ hoped that the controversy would be dissipated upon returning from the summer vacation.
No rework
A short-term ministerial reshuffle would be a bad idea, because it would be another gesture betraying a state of panic, and the bad example came from François Legault himself.
The coach can’t just reshuffle his trios when he himself has made decisions that hurt the whole team.
We recognize it in government offices, despite the anticipation of a decline in the polls, in particular due to the impact of inflation, the current discount after years of prancing in the lead constitutes a “rude awakening”.
François Legault will have to pull himself together, govern with clear objectives, without ignoring opinion polls.