Premier François Legault launches soul-searching operation

Montreal Gazette

a day ago

Quebec Politics
By
QUEBEC — The soul-searching operation is underway.
One day after his Coalition Avenir Québec party suffered a crushing defeat by the Parti Québécois in a byelection in Arthabaska riding, Premier François Legault is stepping up efforts to jump-start his sagging government.
And before he meets his cabinet and caucus in unusual summer meetings this week, Legault Tuesday took some time to step out of his office in Quebec City to go and meet ordinary citizens for some heart-to-heart talks.
'He's going to listen, that's the deal,' a senior government source said Tuesday.
The encounters were not included on the premier's official agenda and the media was not invited. The plan was for Legault to meet and talk informally with people on the street, in the shops, or at the mall.
Legault set the stage for the shifts he is planning by making a mea culpa in his concession speech Monday night.
He said he 'got the message' that people are unhappy with his government's actions on a number of fronts. That includes losses on the Northvolt project, the SAAQclic fiasco and the government's inability to improve services.
'We must not put our heads in the sand,' Legault told CAQ supporters gathered in a Victoriaville bar. 'The people of Arthabaska were the spokespeople for all Quebecers.
'They sent us a very clear message, very direct. They are disappointed. Over the coming weeks we're going to look at ourselves in the mirror and we will bear all the responsibility of Quebecers' disappointments. We will make changes.'
The numbers were devastating. The CAQ's share of the vote in Arthabaska Monday dropped from the 52 per cent the party got in 2022 to 7.2 per cent. The CAQ has held the riding, in central Quebec, since 2012.
The PQ's score went from 10.02 per cent in 2022 to 46.37 per cent.
Also telling was the turnout level: 60 per cent. That is rare in a regular byelection and even more surprising in a vote held in the middle of summer.
'I think it sends a very, very strong message to the government,' PQ winner, former radio host Alex Boissonneault said in an interview with Radio-Canada Tuesday. 'People did their duty. They had a message to send and I think they expressed their desire for change in no uncertain terms.'
He conceded the PQ's independence agenda was not really an issue in the byelection. Voters were more interested in finding a good MNA than worrying about that part of the PQ's profile.
It was a third byelection win for the PQ, which continues to position itself as the vehicle for voter discontent. The other two wins were in Jean-Talon in 2023 and Terrebonne in March 2025, both former CAQ ridings.
The result was a major disappointment to Éric Duhaime, leader of the Quebec Conservative Party. After failing to win a seat in the legislature in the 2022 general election, Duhaime believed a break through was possible in Arthabaska, a riding in central Quebec that includes Victoriaville.
'Despite the wounds of defeat, my soul is at peace,' Duhaime said Tuesday in a social media post. 'Our support continues to grow. Last night we improved our score of 2022 by 10 per cent, moving from less than 25 per cent (support) to about 35 per cent.'
Duhaime added what gives him hope for the future are the numbers of youth that voted for his party.
'We are the party of the future,' he said.
Over at the CAQ, the focus is on what can be done to save themselves before the 2026 general election. Some pollsters have already predicted that at this rate the CAQ could wind up winning zero seats in the next general election.
What offensive measures does the party have left? One biggie is the cabinet shuffle Legault has been working on over the summer after announcing it is coming last June.
Sources said it will take place some time around Labour Day, which will leave ministers about two weeks to get up to speed on their files before the legislature resumes sitting Sept. 16.
Legault is no fan of such shuffles, referring to the few changes he has made to cabinet since the CAQ's first election in 2018 as 'adjustments.'
Some of his ministers have thus been in the same job for more than seven years.
By definition, shuffles are risky exercises. Once you start moving around the pieces on the chess board it's not always clear how it will end. The last thing Legault wants to do is anger a minister who could respond by quitting.
That explains the Wednesday cabinet meeting and the meeting Thursday with the 85 members of the CAQ caucus. Legault wants to hear from all the members of his team before proceeding with his operational re-set.
Talk of the shuffle has sparked a series of rumours of who might be in and who might be out of cabinet.
Asked about the looming shuffle over the last few days, ministers remained evasive, insisting they will serve in whatever role Legault offers.
'I am happy in education because when I get up in morning I am working for the children,' Education Minister Bernard Drainville said last week. 'This has meaning. When you do politics it has to have meaning. Otherwise it's not worth it.
'Will it be the decision of premier to leave me there? I don't know. If he leaves me there I will do my last year to the election. I will give my all. If the premier decides to send me elsewhere, I will do my best wherever that is.'
'Regardless of the challenge I am offered, I put all my heart and energy into it because I am working for the interests of the taxpayers,' said Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault.