Following a legislative session dominated by an embarrassing scandal and persistent requests on his political future, the Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault, insists that he is not embarrassed by the criticisms of his opponents and remains focused on the economy.
Legault told journalists on Friday that his coalition in the government of the Future Quebec has shown “courage” in recent months when the province has faced economic threats from US President Donald Trump. And he pushed repeated questions about the decreasing popularity of his government after more than six years in power.
“I think that for the moment, it is not easy for all governments of the world,” he said at a press conference to mark the end of the spring session in the Quebec National Assembly. “The cost of living has been very high in the past year … and of course, it is easy to say that it is the fault of the government.”
Legault said that he would continue to make the economy of Quebec his absolute priority and that she wishes to see new resource projects launched throughout the province, including in the mining sector. Last week, his government tabled a bill to remove commercial barriers on the sale of goods from other parts of Canada.
But the Quebec opposition brought its knives out for Legault on Friday. Parti Québécois Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, whose party has been leading in the ballot box for more than a year, said the Prime Minister should no longer govern “democratic legitimacy”.
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“The presence of this government, in the opinion of a majority of Quebecers, is harmful to Quebec,” he told journalists.
The acting liberal chief Marc Tanguay spoke of the famous promenade of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the snow – when he decided to leave his duties – saying that Legault should do “a good, big walk in the grass” this summer to decide if he had to lead his party to the next elections.
Legault insists that he will ask for a third term from Quebecer during an election for October 2026. However, the scrans aggregator of the QC125 election shows that the CAQ could be reduced to only four seats of 86 if elections took place today.
In recent months, the government has struggled to change the chain on a scandal involving cost overruns to the Quebec Automobile Insurance Commission. In February, the auditor general revealed cost exceeding of at least $ 500 million in the creation of the new online platform of the board of directors, Saaqclic, at a total cost of more than $ 1.1 billion.
In March, Legault announced that he would launch a public inquiry to shed light on the case. This survey, which started in April, produced a constant net of embarrassing titles.
In the middle of the lamentable survey, Legault has strongly supported immigration and identity problems, saying that his government protects the values of Quebec.
The Minister of Immigration, Jean-François Roberge, launched the spring session by tabled a bill on the integration of immigrants which obliges newcomers to adopt the “common culture” of Quebec. And Thursday, Roberge closed the session by announcing a plan to reduce permanent immigration objectives up to 25,000 people per year.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, has tabled a new bill which would extend the ban on religious symbols of Quebec to all those who work in schools or on school goods. A detailed study of the legislation will continue in the fall.
“I think people are worried about their language, but also their values, their gender equality and secularism,” Legault said on Friday.
The Coalition Avenir Québec presented itself as the economy party – a message that Legault repeated on Friday – but the government was criticized for having a record deficit of $ 13.6 billion this spring. Shortly after, in another setback for Legault, S&P Global lowered the Quebec credit rating.
“Everything he touches turns into a disaster,” said Tanguay. “I don’t think he’s the man for work.”
The government was also faced with a major decline in opposition parties on an energy bill which, according to them, was poorly designed, intended to help the production of hydroelectricity of the hydroelectricity of Quebec. Friday, the ruling party invoked the closure of the bill to pass it through the Legislative Assembly before the end of the session.
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