The Legault government should have surfed on the presentation of a generous budget for taxpayers, but it sabotaged itself with an attack on the mayor of Quebec City which backfired.
• Read also: Bulletins of the week at the National Assembly
The aggressive exit of François Bonnardel, Geneviève Guilbault and Éric Caire against Bruno Marchand and his tramway project created unease in the government.
“It’s unhealthy,” says a member of the Council of Ministers, alluding to these “communication problems” with the City of Quebec.
Another elected CAQ member also considered the turn of events to be “very disappointing”, adding, however, about the mayor of Quebec, “we are getting to know him”.
According to our information, the minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale and her colleague from Transport would have defended themselves to their colleagues taken aback by saying that Bruno Marchand did not hold the same speech in public as in private.
In particular, the mayor reportedly told the CAQ ministers that they could “count on him” to put pressure on the federal government to commit in writing to cost sharing, but he did not do so.
The drop too much
Anyway, it was the Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital who did the most damage by accusing the mayor of “polluting the lives of drivers” with his tram and the concept of shared streets.
“We do with the personality of each”, launched a member of the government with a sigh, visibly displeased with his colleague Cairo.
This attitude is incomprehensible.
Since the departure of Régis Labeaume, Geneviève Guilbault has hammered home the end of counterproductive rivalries.
Now gone is the one who had burned the bridges, the minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale even spoke, in an interview with The newspaper at the beginning of the year, of a “completely harmonious” triangle between her, Bruno Marchand and the mayor of Lévis Gilles Lehouillier.
It wants to bring together all the elected officials of the greater region for a forum this spring, in order to unite them around its vision of an economic development pole.
Is tapping on one of theirs supposed to be a way to attract diners? Surely not.
Wrong sequence
This apparent supervision of a municipal project even aroused a wave of sympathy from elected officials from all over Quebec towards Mayor Marchand.
In one week, the CAQ has therefore achieved a hat trick.
She herself overshadowed Eric Girard’s budget, which was to be a highlight of her last session, messed up her relationship with the new mayor of Quebec, and alienated many elected municipal officials, a few months before the election.
Must do it!
During this time, it is two appreciated former Liberal and PQ ministers who are showing leadership for the greater Capitale-Nationale region.
Sam Hamad and Agnès Maltais made an inspiring joint outing for the relaunch of the jewel that is Mont-Sainte-Anne, abandoned by its owner in Western Canada.
Last week, the Legault government looked very bad because of its mechanism linking electricity rate increases to inflation.
This week, he got the Girard budget out of the way by causing a head-on collision with the mayor of Quebec.