It is not always easy to convince of the sincerity of an act of contrition. We often have the impression that the repentant regrets above all the harm he has caused to himself, in which case good resolutions do not last long.
When he joined the PLQ in 1998, Jean Charest took as a model the conservative premier of Ontario, Mike Harris, whose “common sense revolution”, which wanted to put the state on a diet, had provoked a real revolt. Mr. Harris did not help himself by also suggesting that welfare recipients eat baloney.
Noting the lack of enthusiasm that the Ontario example aroused in Quebec, which remained stubbornly attached to the heritage of the Quiet Revolution, Mr. Charest felt the need to correct the situation. In a speech given the following year to an assembly of Liberal supporters from eastern Montreal, he declared: “Compassion, dear friends, will be the watchword, the battle horse of the Liberal Party of Quebec. » Once in power, his naturalness returned and he instead embarked on the “reengineering” of the State.
The mea culpa made this week by the Minister of Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, in an interview with Radio-Canada, will leave many skeptical. Recognizing that she should have shown more empathy, she seemed to be more sorry for her poor image than for the desperate situation of those who can no longer find a roof over their heads. According to him, it is simply a communication problem which in no way calls into question his policies.
When forming his cabinet in the fall of 2022, Prime Minister Legault decided to take away Housing from the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, who had long stubbornly denied the housing crisis, in order to make an autonomous ministry.
Mme Duranceau is no more responsible for the crisis than his predecessor, but he must manage it as best he can. Its role is not only to stimulate the construction of new houses, as it seems to believe. It also involves taking care of those who find themselves on the streets and preventing sharks from taking advantage of the situation. She doesn’t seem to have understood it.
Her professional background predisposed her to adopt the owners’ point of view. It is true that the Act modifying various legislative provisions relating to housing (Law 31) made evictions more difficult, but the abolition of the transfer of lease and the refusal of a rent register have given credence to the impression of ‘bias. For a tenant in dire straits, the reversal of the burden of proof, which the minister greatly welcomed, is often esoteric.
It must be said that Mr. Legault himself sometimes seems unconscious of the extent of the tragedy. It was certainly shocking to hear Mr.me Duranceau advised those who could not find housing to invest in real estate, but the Prime Minister did not demonstrate more empathy when he welcomed the rise in house prices, seeing it as a sign of the enrichment of the Quebec.
The shoe episode is undoubtedly distressing. The minister protests that there were no tenants who could have been indisposed — or perhaps not — by her luxurious Louboutins in the building she was visiting. Time will eventually correct the clothing injustice of which women in politics are victims, but that day has unfortunately not yet come.
Politics is a very tough job, but seemingly hopeless causes are not necessarily lost. We have sometimes seen ministers whose image seemed irremediably tarnished rehabilitate spectacularly, as was the case of Monique Jérôme-Forget.
Appointed president of the Treasury Board by Jean Charest in 2003, responsible for “reengineering”, apostle of public-private partnerships (PPP), she quickly became the head of the Turk for defenders of the welfare state. Moving to Finance, in 2007, she was able to create a character that made us forget the precedent, that of the lady who held her bag tightly, making fun of the “glitch syndrome” with which her male colleagues and men were afflicted. in general.
It is not obvious that the current Minister of Housing is capable of such a transformation. Even if she wanted to, she might not have time. His first mandate must not have given him much desire to seek a second one. Moreover, his riding of Bertrand has a very good chance of switching to the PQ in the next election.
Even if she appears to be a weak link in his government, Mr. Legault has renewed his confidence in her, but this is perhaps explained less by the recognition of her merits than by his desire to avoid a by-election, which the CAQ would almost certainly lose if Mme Duranceau decided to bow out. One day or another, however, he will have to resign himself to reshuffling his cabinet.