Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette has thrown his support behind Bernard Drainville to take the helm of the Coalition Avenir Québec over Christine Fréchette, who has widely been seen as the front-runner in the leadership race.
Jolin-Barrette, who has introduced several of the CAQ government’s highest-profile pieces of legislation, including Bill 21 (the religious symbols ban for certain government workers) and Bill 96 (the language law reform), announced his endorsement of Drainville the morning of Easter Monday alongside Transport Minister Jonatan Julien and Health Minister Sonia Bélanger, both of whom said they previously intended to “remain neutral” throughout the campaign.
“Last Thursday, on his final day as premier in the National Assembly, François Legault made a point of delivering the following message: ‘Cynicism must not replace hope,’” Jolin-Barrette told reporters. “To give hope to future generations, to believe in the future, to believe in humanity, to believe in ourselves. Over the past few weeks, Bernard Drainville has, in my opinion, shared with us a vision for Quebec’s future. A vision that unites Quebecers and, above all, puts hope first.”
The endorsements came in the last week of the CAQ’s leadership campaign, one day before party members start voting on who their next leader will be. Whoever wins on April 12 will replace Legault, the father of the CAQ, as the premier of Quebec and the leader of the party going into the fall election.
Throughout the leadership campaign, Drainville has trailed behind Fréchette in terms of endorsements from CAQ ministers.
Jolin-Barrette considered running but opted not to, telling reporters in January that the timing was not right for him.
Bélanger told reporters she intended to remain neutral, but “I told myself that if we want to continue down this path, to continue loving Quebec, we must return to our origins, return to our DNA,” which she said is embodied by Drainville.
According to political science professor André Lamoureux, who specializes in Quebec politics at Université du Québec à Montréal, even though Fréchette is ahead based on the number of endorsements from her colleagues, the public endorsement from Jolin-Barrette alone is “weighty.”
“If (Jolin-Barrette) had decided to run, I think he would have won by a landslide there — he has a lot of experience, and he was practically François Legault’s right-hand man,” Lamoureux said in an interview Monday.
“Drainville has still managed to recruit quite a few activists to his side, so the battle comes down to counting every single vote among the activists. That’s what’s going to make the difference. In my opinion, that’s going to be more important than the number of ministers,” he added.
Lamoureux said it’s “difficult to measure” how much Jolin-Barrette’s public support for Drainville will change the course of the leadership race, which until Monday seemed to be a fait accompli in favour of Fréchette.
Polls have suggested Fréchette maintains a lead over her rival, but Drainville told reporters that data may be misleading since they aren’t surveys of the party members who will actually be voting for the next CAQ leader.
“It’s the voters, not the members. No polls were conducted among the members. The reason is simple: Polling firms obviously don’t have access to membership lists. So let’s be careful,” he said.
The main reasons Jolin-Barrette picked Drainville are his proposals to “expand coverage for couples facing fertility challenges” and to pass a law to “combat sexual and domestic violence.”
“Having a child is a lifelong project. And in Quebec, we choose to make it a societal priority. That is something that makes me proud,” Jolin-Barrette said.
Jolin-Barrette also said Drainville embodies a nationalist “third way” in Quebec politics. The CAQ was founded as a rejection of both the sovereignist ideology of the Parti Québécois and the traditional federalism of the Quebec Liberal Party and has promoted Quebec’s autonomy within Canada, as well as its francophone national identity.
“Over the past seven years, we can point in particular to the adoption of the secularism law, Bill 21; the historic strengthening of the French Language Charter with the adoption of Bill 96; the abolition of the requirement for members of the Quebec National Assembly to swear an oath to the king; and the unilateral amendment of the Canadian Constitution to enshrine that Quebecers form a nation with French as the sole official language,” Jolin-Barrette said.
“This vision of nationalism is the very foundation of the third way, the approach that has enabled our government to achieve significant gains for Quebecers.”
Jolin-Barrette said he had been “closely following the CAQ leadership race” in recent weeks, noting both Drainville and Fréchette are “down-to-earth” and “hard-working” candidates, and “we can be proud of our premier” no matter who wins on Sunday.
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