A few hours after the official announcement of the resignation of the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, speculation is rife behind the scenes of the caucus of elected officials of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), which is being held in Rimouski until Thursday.
Who will get new responsibilities within the cabinet? Who could be the next important minister within the Legault government to desert the CAQ ship?
With the end of the agreement between the minority Liberal government and the NDP opposition in Ottawa, the imminence of federal elections multiplies the possibilities.
“I really like the economy, but I like health even more. We still have very big challenges in health. We have to be rested and motivated and have the desire to do things. I want to fight in the coming months,” said Minister Dubé, repeating as he did the day before that he had been surprised by the resignation of his colleague and friend Fitzgibbon.
Even if it remains “the prerogative of the Prime Minister”, the man who was President of the Treasury Board before moving to Health in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020, shows no interest in becoming Minister of the Economy.
But there is no question of leaving before the end of the current mandate, in two years.
“I can sign that with my blood,” said the minister and member for La Prairie, to dispel any doubt.
During a first stint within the CAQ, Mr. Dubé was the MNA for Lévis in 2012 and was re-elected in 2014, before resigning just four months later to accept a management position within the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. The CAQ was not in power at the time.
Messrs. Dubé, Fitzgibbon and Legault are all accountants by training.
Ottawa will wait
Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard is more of an economist. He has already said that his dream is to become Canada’s Finance Minister.
But he feels “a professional responsibility” to finish his term and “arrive with the pre-election report in 2026 and public finances in good condition,” he said, acknowledging that “the situation of public finances has deteriorated” in recent years.
Mr. Girard also does not see himself adding the Economy or Energy files to his to-do pile.
He already did so in the summer of 2021, when Mr. Fitzgibbon temporarily resigned from his position while he settled his files with the National Assembly’s ethics commissioner.
“That would be a much too high workload, so I don’t think that’s the plan,” he said.
He speaks of an incompatibility between the two tasks.
As for continuing his career in the Ottawa Commons, Mr. Girard has not given up on that. But “one thing at a time.”
He assures that the imminent start of a federal election campaign will not change anything and that he has not had any discussions so far with the federal parties.
A more serene view
Early Wednesday afternoon, former Super Minister of the Economy Pierre Fitzgibbon changed the main photo on his Facebook profile as member for Terrebonne to one of a group of geese calmly pecking around a pond.
He also changed his professional status, according to which as of Thursday, September 5, he will have “stopped working at Député de Terrebonne.”
Meanwhile, in a large room of a Rimouski hotel, barely four hours after holding a joint press briefing with Mr. Fitzgibbon, François Legault launched the preparatory meeting for the parliamentary session of his deputies.
Who will be only 87 left. Out of 125, that’s still a lot. But they were elected at 90 less than two years ago.
In his address to his elected officials on their hot topics of the fall, he spoke of the tough negotiations to come in the health network, of Hydro-Québec’s development plan that needs to be better explained and of the need to reduce immigration to save the French language.
He also warned them that “there will be a little headwind from time to time. But tell yourself that we are working on the right priorities.”
