Christine Fréchette has been pitch perfect since winning the leadership of the Coalition Avenir Québec and has breathed new life into the party of François Legault which, until her arrival, appeared ready for the last rites.
In composing her cabinet, Fréchette sent a couple of low-key signals that she was ready to break with some of the most obnoxious aspects of the Legault era. The naming of Ian Lafrenière as deputy premier was a particularly inspired choice.
Lafrenière knows Montreal and has for years been identified with competent, clear communications on difficult policing issues, going back to his time as spokesperson for the Montreal police service. Law and order will be on the agenda for the next election, and he can provide serious help.
Lafrenière knowledge of, and openness to, cultural communities also set him apart from many in the Legault cabinet. He brings that openness to the game as Fréchette tries to pull off an implausible turnaround for the CAQ.
Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada and Premier Christine Fréchette show off their Habs jerseys outside Montreal city hall. “Fréchette has been pitch perfect since winning the leadership of the Coalition Avenir Québec,” writes Tom Mulcair. John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette
Another key appointment was François Bonnardel as immigration minister, which was remarkable on two counts:
One, Bonnardel had unfairly been made the scapegoat for Legault’s SAAQclic debacle. When his name was announced as a member of Fréchette’s cabinet, a loud applause went up from the assembled crowd that included his former cabinet colleagues as well as backbenchers.
Bonnardel is also the son of an immigrant father, and we can expect his empathetic understanding to inform his political action. Legault is known for justifying the discriminatory Bill 21 by saying “in Quebec, this is how we live.” I don’t expect to hear that from Bonnardel.
The next election is a little more than four months away — not enough time to really break with Legault’s legacy, but probably enough to give Fréchette a fighting chance.
The ballot question will be simple for the more than 70 per cent of Quebecers who want nothing to do with another referendum and possible separation: Who can beat the Parti Québécois?
Under Fréchette, the CAQ is already ahead of the Liberals among francophone Quebecers — and they decide elections.
Liberal Leader Charles Milliard had a miserable time last week trying to put forward a coherent position on the use of the notwithstanding clause. He even wants to consult government lawyers to decide this most political of questions.
Under Fréchette, the CAQ is already ahead of the Liberals among francophone Quebecers — and they decide elections.
It was a communications disaster with his base, but also with the media. Over the weekend, the very capable André Pratte wrote to the English and French papers to say that journalists and commentators had it all wrong, that Milliard had been as clear as a bell — so clear that Pratte, the chair of the Liberal policy commission, had to write a full article to explain it to everyone, in both languages!
The Quebec Conservatives under Éric Duhaime look to be heading for a brick wall of political irrelevance — road kill in a campaign where the key issue will be separatism versus staying in Canada, with no room for waffling.
So too Québec solidaire. The reconversion of Alexandre Boulerice won’t change the fact that all separatists — left, right and centre — are likely to head back to the PQ mother ship in the hope of one day getting to a Yes vote. QS is about to get NDP’d!
Who, between Fréchette’s CAQ and Milliard’s Liberals, will be seen as the best vehicle to defeat the separatists?
Milliard is bright and talented, but his lack of political experience is starting to show. He will largely run his campaign out of Quebec City, a sign the Liberals believe they don’t have to work to get votes in Montreal. Big mistake.
In an existential vote, many anglophones and allophones I’ve spoken with have said clearly they’re ready to go with the CAQ if it can help ensure the defeat of the separatists. The Liberals may learn that nobody likes being taken for granted.
Tom Mulcair, a former leader of the federal NDP, served as minister of the environment in the Quebec Liberal government of Jean Charest.
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