God did things well, says a Breton saying, to have planted such a large number of apple trees in a country where the inhabitants adore cider so much. » To warn state employees that he would be stingy, François Legault did not fall unconscious, but in beer. He did things well, in a nation where each person drinks 77 liters of it every year. The metaphor is all the more welcome as it concerns liquidity.
While Quebec microbreweries are experiencing a golden age, the Prime Minister has chosen a safe bet: there will not be, he said, “a Labatt Bleue for everyone”. Again, an excellent choice.
Because 20 years ago, the brand was promoted in an advertising campaign with political overtones. The “Blue Party” candidate pledged to increase “gross national fun” by establishing, among other things, three-day weekends and the deductibility of money invested in bar crawls. Now that the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) uses powder blue as its emblematic color, we understand why this specific brand of beer came to mind. There is something very caquiste about Labatt Bleue.
I note that he did not mention it during the discussion of MPs’ salaries. A $30,000 raise all at once is no small feat. We would have imagined him saying: “Champagne for everyone!” »
And when he increased the salary of his chief of staff, Martin Koskinen, by $71,000, he must have had a mental image of a case of Château Mouton Rothschild. In June, it was announced that the new president of the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) would earn 13.5% more than his predecessor (half a million per year). His annual bonus can reach $75,000. Moderation did not happen there.
At Investissement Québec, in any case, no Labatt Bleue is in sight. We learned in June 2022 that the remuneration of its six senior executives had increased by 12% (even if the value of the portfolio had only increased by 3.5%).
The CEO, Guy Leblanc, was satisfied with an increase of 5.8%. In parliamentary committee, he admitted: “I have a level of stimulation which is at the ceiling. » However, his remuneration jumped another 19% in 2023, to exceed the million dollar mark. Isn’t there a risk of overstimulation? Aren’t we taking a serious risk with our nervous system?
It is undoubtedly in order not to overstimulate the 600,000 state employees that Quebec does not take the risk of offering them all this type of megabottles. The initial offer, unchanged for nine months now, provides for a 9% increase over five years (not per year, over five years in total) in addition to a flat rate of $1,000 (enough to buy 35 cases of 24 Labatt Bleue).
The state’s capacity to pay is certainly not unlimited. But the tap has flowed in recent days for the Sûreté du Québec police officers. They will pocket, over five years, 21%.
As you may know, the superhero of drinkers is Bartender. I have the impression that the superhero of the common front strategists is: LegaultMan. There is only one way to understand his salary strategy. He secretly wants to give state employees a historic raise.
He judges that resistance to this major project is too strong at the CAQ, among employers and among part of the electorate. He and Koskinen developed a Machiavellian plan to overcome this resistance. He must set the conditions for a social crisis so strong that everyone will understand that social peace requires him to give in. But how can we ensure that an indefinite general strike is called?
It was necessary to gradually raise among nurses, teachers and other employees a feeling of serious injustice. The scandalous salaries of Investissement Québec, the repeated bonuses at the top of the ladder, served to prepare the ground. Small flames of anger, placed during the preliminaries of the negotiation.
Then, in the spring, the inexplicable and totally unpopular salary increase for deputies and ministers served as fuel for the fire of resentment. There remained, for the start of the school year, two cards to play at the right time: just before the start of the strike votes.
First, settle with the police at a level 2.3 times higher than what we offer to others. This can only cause panic in union meetings. Then, make a deliberately clumsy statement about the shortage of Labatt Bleue. If we don’t have 80% strike votes with that, it’s a despair of provocation.
You have to admire the maneuver. We talked about the “Blue Party” ad. But lurking deep in our memories, we also find another Labatt Bleue ad that had left its mark. In the suburbs (emblematic CAQ land), a man tried to get a bottle of this elixir given to him by his neighbor, apparently not inclined to generosity. “What do we do when we don’t have a Blue Labatt? » asks the borrower. “We can do without it,” replies the neighbor. “Well that’s it,” replies the other: “give me one!” »
There is something subliminal in the operation. In the end, whoever wants the bottle wins. He’s the smartest. Legault will have his general strike. All his efforts will be rewarded. Then, like magic, there will be beer for everyone. That’s it, or he’s causing us a collective hangover.
Father, columnist and author, Jean-François Lisée led the PQ from 2016 to 2018. [email protected] / blog: jflisee.org