The adventures of François Legault in the land of the media

In The Adventures of Tintinthe character of Abdallah regularly arrives at Moulinsart to sow chaos with his arsenal of pranks and tricks, to the great displeasure of Captain Haddock.

“A reporter in the corridors of parliament is a bit like scratching hair in a shirt collar,” Tintin could no doubt concede, if he himself had been a political journalist at the National Assembly.

In recent months, Prime Minister François Legault has on a few occasions given the impression that he has a little too much itchy hair in his shirt collar.

The last election campaign was obviously the occasion for friction with journalists. In this regard, Mr. Legault did not hesitate to show his annoyance at the repeated questions about his immigration policies and his Quebec-Lévis tunnel project.

The day before the election, the CAQ leader canceled the traditional end-of-campaign dinner with journalists, which is used to conclude the electoral marathon in a friendly atmosphere on all the caravans.

hunting trip

In mid-December, Mr. Legault failed journalists a second time, at the end of a parliamentary session cut short due to the campaign. The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) took stock of the work on social media, unlike all of its opponents who complied with the traditional exercise of the press conference.

“Two short weeks, that did not even require taking stock,” joked Mr. Legault this week, addressing his deputies.

During these “two short weeks”, his Minister of Economy and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, had nevertheless had time to provoke the opening of a sixth investigation by the Ethics Commissioner about him.

Mr. Legault then received a letter from the President and CEO of Quebecor, Pierre Karl Péladeau, asking him to call his minister to order, who attacked the work of a journalist from the Montreal Journal. On this occasion, the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ) also defended the journalist.

Left without sending his traditional holiday greeting cards to members of the Press Gallery, the head of government has not completely forgotten them.

Regularly sharing his readings on social networks, Mr. Legault confided his appreciation of the book In the big leagueswritten by the former columnist of the daily The sun Gilbert Lavoie. “Severe criticism of the work of journalists,” said the Prime Minister on his Twitter feed. He quoted an excerpt from the book that journalism has become “more aggressive to the point of being mischievous or malicious at times.”

Mr. Legault added 24 hours later. This time it’s the book of former political adviser Marc-André Leclerc, Political confidences, which inspired him. “The author talks about the indispensable role of political advisors to politicians. And frustration with journalists, wrote the Prime Minister on Twitter. Confirms all my admiration for political advisers. »

Unfairly treated

In mid-January, reactions to the resignation of the president and CEO of Hydro-Quebec, Sophie Brochu, prompted Mr. Legault to make an update on what he had “heard and read”. Mr. Legault denounced the “unfair” perception of which his government has been the victim.

Ewan Sauves, Mr. Legault’s press secretary, told the To have to this week that the prime minister and his office generally have a good working relationship with most journalists.

“Sometimes we are treated unfairly and we have every right to say so,” he said. It would be unhealthy for democracy if the work of journalists and the media were free from criticism. »

Some nuances

Former columnist Gilbert Lavoie pointed out that Mr. Legault truncated the sentence from his book that he quoted on Twitter. She also mentioned that journalism in Quebec had “become much less complacent”.

“Only the portion of my quote that criticized journalists was used, without including all the nuances of the text, he replied to the To have to. This is exactly the same behavior that politicians often accuse journalists of. »

Mr. Lavoie has also noticed Mr. Legault’s annoyance lately. “It seems obvious to me that the completely appropriate insistence of the media on controversial subjects such as the third link or immigration has exhausted his patience, which no doubt explains the distance he has since established with the parliamentary press,” he said.

Marc-André Leclerc, who was a political adviser to the Conservative Party of Canada, qualified Mr. Legault’s interpretation of the testimonies of other advisers reported in his book. “In my meetings with these people, I didn’t feel any frustration,” he says.

The reframing that Mr. Legault has done on Hydro-Quebec shows that he seems upset when the media does not transmit his message as he wishes, believes the ex-adviser.

“I don’t think Mr. Legault has a bad relationship with the media,” he said. Clearly, he’s a politician who doesn’t like it, reading a review or having bad intentions attributed to him. »

Pandemic effect

After a first term dominated by the management of the pandemic, Mr. Legault must adapt to a return to normal with the media, analyzes Mr. Leclerc. “Now people expect him to deliver, and the media is the conduit between the public and the premier,” he said. It is possible, it is normal, that he finds it more difficult in terms of questions. »

Former director of communications for a CAQ minister, Dominic Vallières notes that the pandemic has created a particular context with regard to the role of the media. “Everyone was pushing in the same direction, everyone was going through the unknown together,” he says. The Prime Minister’s word was truly executive. »

This exceptional mandate continues to have an influence on Mr. Legault’s relationship with the media.

“He was more popular than the average prime minister and that comes at some point with a danger,” says Mr. Vallières. If you say that you are in communion with public opinion, do you really need to limit yourself to the same things as your predecessors? »

The decision not to do an end-of-session review in December is a good example, he said. “It is extremely rare for a head of government to decide not to take stock of the session,” notes Mr. Vallières, who also advised the former PQ premier, Pauline Marois.

Similarly, a former Liberal strategist, who preferred to remain anonymous because he now works in the private sector, was surprised that Mr. Legault canceled his end-of-election campaign dinner with the media. “It’s the supper of the truce, he remembers. We pat each other during the campaign, but on this occasion, the masks fall. »

Various approaches

Jean-Claude Rivest, who was a Liberal MP as well as political adviser to Robert Bourassa, notes that Mr. Legault has an approach that differs from that of his former boss in his relations with journalists.

“We feel that he does not like it, he notes. To him, it seems like something he has to do. Whereas for Mr. Bourassa, it was an intellectual pleasure. He really liked the exchange. »

According to Mr. Rivest, Mr. Bourassa maintained cordial relations with the journalists, sometimes almost too familiar. “He was trying to devise his strategies to counter an assertion that seemed to him to be inaccurate. But the journalist who wrote it was not ostracized or shunned. He was not reprimanded. On the contrary, he perhaps put more, moreover. »

Mr. Bourassa believed that journalists and politicians were pursuing, more broadly, a common objective. “Mr. Bourassa, beyond being a politician, he was someone who had a passion for public affairs,” recalls Mr. Rivest. He found that in the journalists. In that sense, he had immense respect and a kind of familiarity. »

Again, the former adviser sees a difference with the current Prime Minister. “Mr. Legault is not familiar with this spirit of journalists for public service,” he said. Or he has it his way. »

In the most obvious expression of a fit of exasperation, in 2017, Philippe Couillard had criticized parliamentary journalists for their repeated questions about the ministers he had kept after a reshuffle. “You want to have a pound of flesh, a little blood on the table? he had thrown at them.