Two years after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Quebec, Prime Minister François Legault is “thirsty to move on”.
“He would be disappointed if the history books remembered that he was simply the ‘prime minister of the pandemic'”, confides his chief of staff, Martin Koskinen, in an interview with The duty.
The management of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to track François Legault, including in the streets of Longueuil, where he went door to door last Tuesday.
Indeed, the voters he met did not want to talk about hockey with him, even though he wore a quilted jacket decorated with the Canadiens logo for the occasion.
The choice of sanitary measures, “it is not an exact science”, he explained to Hélène in front of the door of his semi-detached house on the South Shore. The CAQ candidate in the by-election in the riding of Marie-Victorin, Shirley Dorismond, stood next to him.
Inside, Hélène said that she had not forgotten the health “blow” that the Prime Minister dealt on December 30 by banning private gatherings and establishing a new curfew in time for the New Year. After having supported the CAQ in the general elections of 1er October 2018, she plans to support the Parti Québécois – whose candidate, Pierre Nantel, she “likes”, she specified – in the by-election of April 11, 2022. Her spouse assured François Legault and to Shirley Dorismond that he would vote with both hands for the CAQ.
While crossing the Tempo-type carport, the chief caquist made a few pencil strokes on a card. He said he wrote: “a PQ player, a caquist”.
Then, François Legault and Shirley Dorismond took a few steps and climbed a few steps to finish their race on the threshold of the door of the neighboring property. “I won’t freeze your house for too long…” promised the Prime Minister when the door opened.
– ” Can we count on you ? he asked after a few minutes of discussion.
— Yes, answered Johanne and Denis.
– Both ?
– Yes.
“Two caquists! “welcomed François Legault.
Residents peeked outside, struggling to understand the presence of nearly a dozen Longueuil police vehicles and black SUVs on their usually quiet street.
“Everyone is sick of the pandemic. U.S. too ! Explained Johanne and Denis after the departure of the first-ministerial convoy. They now have high hopes of soon taking the “motorcycle trip” they promised themselves two years ago. “We wouldn’t have wanted to be in his panties,” they added.
“Lonely at the top”
Impatience – and frustration – have not spared François Legault either since the start of the state of health emergency, report relatives.
“This pandemic will have exercised François’ patience considerably”, mentions in particular his spouse, Isabelle Brais, in a brief exchange with The duty, on the sidelines of the second anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic. “He will also have appreciated even more the great solidarity of Quebecers. »
“Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed the prime minister? ” demand The duty to Martin Koskinen. The 48-year-old taps the conference table in his office in the Honoré-Mercier building, located a few steps from that of the head of government, with a finger. “I think he realized that “it’s lonely at the top“”, he drops after a moment of reflection.
The “weight” of the office of prime minister has increased considerably after the national director of public health, Horacio Arruda, reported to him on March 9, 2020 the assault launched by COVID-19 against Quebec, insists his principal to advise.
In private, François Legault expressed his dissatisfaction when the officials of the Ministry of Health failed to give him the right time. “It happened to me to put my fist on the table”, had indicated the Prime Minister to the Homework after the first wave. In public, he pursed his lips when the doctor-“artist” Horacio Arruda got tangled in his brushes.
Despite strong popular support, François Legault also, at times, felt intensely the “loneliness of power”, mention members of his close guard.
To set an example, he refrained from going back and forth between Montreal, where he lives, and Quebec City, where he works – which he was later criticized for. In his official apartment, perched at 16and and 17and floors of the Price Building in Old Quebec, he clung to books to light up his sleepless nights.
François Legault had yet “seen others”. “I don’t want to sound corny saying this, but my father died when I was 26. I saw my father in intensive care for a month and there they said to me, in English: “He just passed away“”, he said in an interview with The duty in December 2020. In his eyes, “when you’ve been through this”, you can face hardships and the lot of stress they bring. “I had stress in my life,” he said.
Disrupted mandate
The Prime Minister did not emerge unscathed from the two years of health crisis, and neither did the government. ” [La pandémie]it distorted our mandate,” says Martin Koskinen, before adding: “I know there is frustration on his part. [Le premier ministre se dit] : “I would have liked to put my energies on something other than the pandemic.” »
Two years ago, François Legault had to put aside the program of the Coalition avenir Québec to allow the state to counter the first blows and the repercussions of COVID-19, before resuming and modifying it. For example, the “problems” in the health network that arose with the waves of COVID-19 convinced him to reform or, in his own words, to “rebuild” the health system. He refused outright before “seeing how dysfunctional the system was,” notes a CAQ strategist.
Sincerity preserved
Over the past two years, François Legault has also perfected the art of “walking on his pride”, especially when he had to ban, two years in a row, the holding of gatherings during the holiday season, after giving hope to Quebecers to see their families again. “We waited as far as possible, and we still got caught by the virus,” says Martin Koskinen. “Afterwards, you have to walk on your pride. This is what the Prime Minister has done, according to him, by taking “politically costly decisions”, such as imposing a second curfew on December 30.
The Prime Minister has nevertheless been able to maintain his “authenticity”, even if this has sometimes thrown him into trouble, including that of the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Erin O’Toole – whose election victory he publicly hoped for on September 20 last. “Yes, he told Quebeckers which parties they should not support… At the same time, it’s him, and he assumes it”, argues Martin Koskinen, while specifying that “when he is authentic, people forgive a lot”.