The hypotheses of sectoral agreements in principle concluded in recent days would be welcomed by Prime Minister François Legault, according to political analyst Marc-André Leclerc.
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In an interview with LCN, Mr. Leclerc argues that the Prime Minister needed to show that his teams are able to advance the negotiations which had been at a standstill for several months before the intensification of discussions in recent days.
“There has been progress, there has been progress and that was important for Mr. Legault and his team to demonstrate that they are capable of reaching an agreement with unions,” he said. For Mr. Legault, it is a sigh of relief, although it still remains [que] people around turkeys and pies talk about strikes because it affects everyone.”
The political analyst believes that the CAQ has not understood the extent of the support that the public could have for teachers, in particular.
“It is certain that since the fall we saw very early in August and September that there was a war of public opinion,” he explains. But clearly, I think the government underestimated public opinion [favorable aux grévistes] that people could have, even parents affected by the indefinite general strike of the FAE since November 23.”
“Mr. Legault is currently very discreet,” he continues. We haven’t seen him do end-of-year interviews like Justin Trudeau for example or Pierre Poilievre. We saw that his last statements had gone down less well. But for the young people, we must save the return in January, and we can say that what has happened in the last few days is very encouraging.”
A difficult year for Legault
2023 has not been an easy year for the Prime Minister, who will quickly want to put the public sector negotiations behind him to work on getting back in the polls, according to Marc-André Leclerc.
“He is facing a political storm on all fronts,” he said. We have seen it across the planet. All the companies which are affected by inflation at the moment, things are bad for the politicians, but Mr. Legault that was the third link, the tram, the subsidy to the Kings, the 30% more to the deputies. When you add it all up, you have to face a headwind.”
“He will take [le temps de Fêtes] to rest and will want to come back in January to be able to dictate the agenda, he adds. What has been difficult in the last few months is that he has been pushed left and right, bad decisions are made and we don’t feel he is in control and his opponents are taking advantage of it. He must show that he too has a social project. He hasn’t been able to do that in recent weeks.”
The Prime Minister will have to ensure that his caucus is still behind him in the coming months.
“We saw discontent in April when [son caucus] did not feel consulted for the third link, and in politics, there is a natural effect which means that when things start to go badly, the circle of trust around the party leader shrinks day by day. day, he maintains. That’s going to be a job for Mr. Legault to ensure that with a large caucus of 89 deputies, we have to keep everyone happy.”
“We saw how this fall it was difficult on all fronts for Mr. Legault,” he added. He wants to turn the page on the negotiations. At some point in politics, you want to be able to wipe the slate clean and start a little bit from scratch.”
See Marc-André Leclerc’s full analysis in the video above