It is the story of politicians who would like to be real kings. Who want to interfere in any aspect of the life of their principality.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
People incapable of no longer having all the powers over what was once their file. Even when it has become, in law and in fact, someone else’s file.
The best example of this is the Quebec tramway, but, let’s say it right away, there are cases of this kind everywhere. And the municipal world, everywhere in Quebec, is starting to have its backs pretty full.
As soon as they came to power, deputies and ministers of the CAQ in the Quebec region began to blow hot and cold on the project which, at the time, was that of Mayor Régis Labeaume.
It must be said that the tramway was not necessarily very popular in the only one of the 10 largest cities in Canada to not have a structuring public transport network and where it is still the reign of the individual car. In addition, the tramway is sharply criticized by the famous radio stations of Quebec who have hated it since day one.
In short, we have challenged everything since the beginning of this project. The technology, the layout, the coexistence with the automobile. Since coming to power, the CAQ has demanded several changes that could only be explained by political reasons.
Today, it starts again on a small stretch of less than 500 m of René-Lévesque Boulevard which would become a shared street, where automobile traffic would necessarily have to be reduced.
But these unfortunate 500 m would have effects, according to several CAQ ministers, up to 50 km away! But the shared street does not bring an increase in traffic, it implies a change of route, it is not the same.
So the little wrens get going. In the name of a “regional vision”, we could not hinder a solo car that leaves 50 km away to go downtown.
In the name of ecology (coming from the CAQ, it’s still strong!), the wrens decree that we should not cut trees to let the tram pass, but when we want to keep them with a shared street, it is equally unacceptable.
And the Prime Minister adds a layer of it by saying that the mayor of Quebec should work on the “social acceptability” of his tramway. The same Prime Minister who takes no account of it in the REM de l’Est project in Montreal.
In short, the CAQ and its wrens say they want the tramway project to happen, but what is obvious is that they want it to happen on their terms and only on their terms.
And one condition, it also seems obvious, is that it be after the elections. Since the CAQ fears losing the ridings of some of its wrens to the Conservative Party of Quebec, which is rising in popularity and is opposed to the tramway to the point of making the October 3 election a referendum on the project.
Unfortunately for them, the new mayor of Quebec has no intention of letting it go. And Bruno Marchand’s appeal has – quite uniquely – led the Union of Municipalities and the Mayor of Montreal to publicly support their colleague against Quebec City’s interference in municipal responsibilities, particularly land use planning.
This demonstrates how much relations between the CAQ government and the municipal world as a whole are far from being in good shape. An example: practically nothing in this week’s budget on the housing shortage which affects all of Quebec and has effects on the economy of the regions.
Another example of a petty wren is the Minister of Justice who is engaged in a very public tussle with the Chief Justice of the Court of Quebec over the number of bilingual judges.
However, the rules have been clear since the dawn of time: the government appoints the judges, but the administration of the court is the responsibility of the Chief Justice and her alone.
But we are in the unusual situation where the Minister of Justice has lost his case in court and decides that he is going to override it by changing the law, even if it is only to settle his accounts.
It must be said that we are in a special situation with this Minister of Justice: as Attorney General, he should be above the fray. But Simon Jolin-Barrette is the most political minister in the government: parliamentary leader – therefore responsible for partisan contests in the chamber – and minister responsible for the very political language file.
But, deep down, he’s just another one of those wrens who want to rule everything, especially in an election year when they feel they have to share their powers.