Quebec Premier Francois Legault faces a weak and divided opposition heading into the October 3 election, according to a Concordia political scientist..Professor Brooke Jeffrey told Western Standard the 65-year-old premier transformed Quebec politics..“Mr. Legault has managed to eliminate the traditional federalism / separatism on which elections used to be conducted. This is the explanation for the tremendous decline in the Liberals, for example, who were seen as the standard bearers for federalism,” Jeffrey said..“He promotes everything, Bill 96, Bill 21, and so on, on the understanding that nationalism is important to him, without separation.”.Bill 21, passed in June 2019, prohibits wearing “clothing, a symbol, jewelry, adornments, accessories or headwear” that is religious. Bill 96, passed in May 2022, strengthened requirements for the use of the French language in the workplace. Jeffrey says Legault has been a “clever strategist” who left the PQ “nowhere.”.“His party is based almost entirely outside of Montreal. He has a rural based party, and the other parties are fighting for the urban core. So, they're disadvantaged right off the bat there,” Jeffrey said..“It's mostly his personality. He comes across as a leader, and as someone who is frank and open and honest — even if he maybe isn't all the time, but he certainly seems that way. And people relate to him in the way they did to (former Quebec premier Maurice) Duplessis. He's almost a father figure.”.Legault served as a Parti Quebecois Member of the National Assembly from 1998 to 2009, serving as Health and Education minister before resigning his seat. Legault co-founded Coalition Avenir Quebec in 2011 to emphasize economic growth and promote Quebec nationalism instead of separation..In 2018, Legault’s CAQ won 74 of 125 seats, gaining a majority with 37% of the vote. The incumbent Liberals under Philippe Couillard took 31 seats, while the Parti Quebecois and Quebec Solidaire were tied at 10..Jeffrey said he doubts the large rallies against curfews and vaccine mandates that have occurred since will cost Legault the election..“It's not the kind of issue it is in Alberta, for example… He has responded to his rural base by removing some restrictions, but I don't think that's a driving issue in this campaign at all. And it's amazing how things like the deaths in long term care homes and perhaps mishandling of things in the early days have not cost him any support at all. This is a much more of a bread-and-butter type campaign coupled with this populist nationalist approach, which makes him so popular, because that even has the support of some of the chattering classes.”.Polimeter, a political promise tracker, estimates the CAQ kept 56%, partially kept 24%, and broken 20% of the 251 promises made in the previous election. The party has adopted “continuons”, or “let’s keep going” as its 2020 campaign slogan..The left-leaning Quebec Solidaire has no formal leader by design, while rookies lead the other parties. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon faces his first election leading the Parti Quebecois. Current Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade, is a former CAQ president who left Legault’s party over immigration and identity issues. She promises tax cuts for incomes under $92,500 and a $100-billion green hydrogen plan. The Conservative Party of Quebec, led by Eric Duhaime, emerged as a fifth viable party by promising lower income taxes, smaller government, and resource development to improve the quality of life..Jeffrey says Legault, regrettably, has one thing in common with other premiers — he’s begging Ottawa for health care dollars instead of instituting reforms..“All of the small-C conservative [premiers], and you'd have to call Legault a small-C conservative as well as a populist, are busy trying to buy voters with [tax cuts and handouts] at the same time they're demanding more money on health care… And they're avoiding discussion on some of the really serious issues which are the root of the problem and money won't fix,” Jeffrey said..“Nurses and nurse practitioners and even paramedics could do some of the jobs that doctors do, thereby freeing them up. The idea hospitals could operate emergency wards differently, the idea that those long waiting lists for certain kinds of surgeries could be dealt with differently if you rescheduled things in a hospital — none of that requires an infusion of federal cash.”
