Have a good week for Madwa-Nika Cadet and André Pratte
The two co-authors of the committee report on the revival of the PLQ have done serious work. With their collaborators, they took the pulse of the activists and put forward numerous ideas to get their party out of its slump and reconnect with the French-speaking electorate. We can disagree with certain ideas and highlight tensions between certain values. The fact remains that the committee went as far as it could. His mandate was not to develop an electoral platform. These more in-depth debates will have to take place during the leadership race. Candidates will then be able to draw inspiration from the quality thinking done by the co-authors who did not write for clicks.
Paul Journet, The Press
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Fred Beauchemin, Liberal MP for Marguerite-Bourgeoys
Bad week for Fred Beauchemin
The president of the PLQ Youth Commission filed a complaint for psychological harassment against employees who worked with Fred Beauchemin. In particular, they would have put pressure on the latter to influence the rules of the Liberal leadership race, of which Mr. Beauchemin is the only candidate who has come forward so far. Mr. Beauchemin is also targeted by the complainant because he did not take her complaints seriously. The National Assembly and the PLQ are each examining the complaint separately. Pending the conclusion, the MP is suspended from caucus. Without presuming conclusions, we can however already affirm this: at a minimum, Mr. Beauchemin did not show his qualities as a unifier by using the complaint to attack his own party, seeing it as proof that the PLQ would be “paralyzed by its lack of clear direction. His leadership race is off to a bad start…
Paul Journet, The Press
The figure of the week: 470,000
This is the number of houses that the Romaine complex, inaugurated this week, can supply for a year. Its power reaches 1,550 megawatts for an average annual production of 8 TWh.
The quote of the week
PHOTO BLAIR GABLE, REUTERS ARCHIVES
The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau
Canada unequivocally condemns the terrorist attacks committed by Hamas. We stand in solidarity with Israel and reiterate our support for Israel’s right to defend itself in accordance with international law.
Justin Trudeau denounced the attacks perpetrated by Hamas and insisted on the importance of respecting international conventions on Monday evening; he did not want to say on Thursday whether the total siege imposed on the Gaza Strip violated international law.
Trump as a controlled burn
Justin Trudeau was in the Northwest Territories this week to see the damage caused by last summer’s massive fires. In a conversation with Town of Hay River Fire Chief Travis Wright, the Prime Minister drew parallels between fighting wildfires and dealing with a fiery American president. “Trump, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and now India and Israel – we are in a time where we are all learning how to respond,” he said to illustrate how he too had to deal with situations complex. When the fire chief replied that the Trump era must have been difficult, Justin Trudeau told him that he had used the controlled burning strategy. “There are ways to manage it,” he assured.
Anaida Poilievre put to work
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Anaida Poilievre at the Conservative Party convention in September
The speech by the wife of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre at the Quebec convention made a good impression, so much so that the party will call on her services to fill an already well-filled war chest. Anaida Poilievre “agreed to hit the road and do some fundraising,” Robert Staley, president of the Conservative Fund, said at the convention last September, reported the Globe and Mail a few days ago. “Ana Poilievre is an important part of the Conservative team,” Mr. Staley said during a presentation to delegates. “We will send it alone, perhaps to places where Pierre cannot go because of the legislative calendar,” he added. The federal election is not expected to be called before 2025, but the Conservative Party, already a champion in financing, wants to maintain its financial lead.
La Romaine: Jean Charest “surprised” to be invited
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Former Prime Minister Jean Charest at the inauguration of La Romaine on Thursday
Former Prime Minister Jean Charest was “pleasantly surprised” to receive an invitation from François Legault to attend Thursday the cutting of the ribbon for the inauguration of Romaine, on the North Shore. For what ? “Because I was not invited the last time,” replied the man who kicked off the construction of the megacomplex in 2009. Indeed, the government of Philippe Couillard had made a mistake by not inviting not formally the former Liberal leader during the commissioning of the Romaine-3 power plant in 2017. “I thank Prime Minister Legault. They were all very generous in their comments,” Mr. Charest took care to emphasize.
A bug in bug bounties
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, ARCHIVES SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Éric Caire, Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital
In the “one piece of news can hide another” category: the Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs, Éric Caire, announced that all ministries and organizations will call on computer hackers to find flaws in their systems and websites . Departments and organizations will therefore have to adhere to the Bug Bounty Program which pays between $50 and $7,500 to anyone who finds a computer problem. Why this release when this program was announced more than a year ago? Because there was a bug, so to speak, it turned out. The government recognizes in a decree that it must force ministries to subject their systems to hacker-proofing “given the limited number of participations by public bodies in the program” since its creation. However, he insists, this program “constitutes a good practice in information security that such organizations should adopt”. You guessed it: the SAAQ has not subjected its new service to the test of pirates…