While denying himself of being a supporter of the policy of the worst, Jacques Parizeau took pleasure in quoting Chateaubriand at the time when he was leader of the opposition in the National Assembly: “Get up quickly, desired storms! »
No one was fooled by his official support for the Meech Lake Accord, especially not Robert Bourassa, who knew perfectly well that its rejection would plunge Quebec into a constitutional crisis from which his PQ counterpart was eager to take advantage.
Now the current leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ), Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, is predicting “an unprecedented social crisis” due to the too large number of immigrants, permanent and temporary, that Quebec will welcome over the next few years. years. A disaster that comes in three parts: “Housing crisis, French crisis, crisis in essential services. »
If the worst is never certain, hyperbole is an imposed feature in political discourse. “Unprecedented events”, “historic moments” and “perfect storms” follow one another at a maddening pace.
Immigration certainly cannot be blamed for years of neglect in language matters and neglect in the construction of affordable housing, any more than it can be held responsible for the staff shortage affecting public services. .
Throughout Canada, however, there is concern about the possible disruption that the increase in thresholds could cause. Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon would surely be outraged if he was suspected of secretly rejoicing that irresponsible migration policies, both in Ottawa and in Quebec, are making things even worse. But a storm that destabilizes a government is always welcome for the party that aspires to replace it.
Now that it has found a smile again, the PQ is starting to play the prophets of doom. Last week, it was Jean-Talon’s new MP, Pascal Paradis, who said he feared that negotiations with the unions representing public sector employees would cause a “major social crisis”.
In the PQ, we undoubtedly remember that the series of negotiations of 1982 marked the beginning of the end for the Lévesque government, which had nevertheless been re-elected with almost 50% of the votes the previous year.
It will certainly take some time before we can measure the seriousness of the triple crisis anticipated by the leader of the PQ, but the strike movement that has begun in the public sector could quickly turn into a major confrontation if the Legault government does not not improve its offerings substantially.
However, not only have the tax cuts of recent years and the distribution of checks on a large scale emptied the state coffers, but economic growth is expected to be even weaker than expected, which should lead to a drop in revenues. .
The report from the Institut du Québec which was made public last Friday now foresees a major budgetary tightening because of the considerable expenses caused by the pandemic and the implementation of the “anti-inflation shield”. What’s more, inflation tends to become entrenched. We even say the word a, this austerity which had been so damaging to the Couillard government.
For the moment, the unions seem to have the support of Quebecers, but experience shows that this sympathy is often inversely proportional to the inconveniences that the population suffers.
It also depends on the popularity of the government, and this is clearly declining. The last Léger poll, which only gave the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) a four-point lead over the PQ in all of Quebec, placed the two parties practically neck and neck in the capital region.
And another survey, carried out a few days earlier by the Segma firm, suggests that things could go even worse for the CAQ camp. The PQ is credited with 35.6% of voting intentions, or 12 points more than the CAQ (23.2%). The survey was sponsored by the PQ, but its sample is 600 respondents, while 266 people from the Quebec region responded to Léger’s survey.
Not surprisingly, the abandonment of the third highway link between Quebec and Lévis continues to haunt the CAQ government. Even though he announced the resurrection of the project the day after his defeat in Jean-Talon, barely 27% of voters say they still trust him.
The question is to what extent this loss of confidence influences its overall management. During the pandemic, he was able to inspire the population with the feeling that he could protect them from storms, but it seems that this is less and less the case.