(Quebec) A fourth departure in a few weeks occurs from the office of Prime Minister François Legault.
Posted at 11:09 a.m.
Director of Media Relations Manuel Dionne has officially announced that he is leaving his position after six years of service, news first reported by The Montreal Journal. Starting May 27, he will work on communications for the Federation of Specialist Doctors of Quebec, a union with which the Legault government must renegotiate a new compensation agreement. This will be a hot issue over the coming months.
Before making the jump to the Coalition Avenir Québec in 2018, Manuel Dionne was responsible for communications for another union, the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) under the leadership of Régine Laurent. He is a former press secretary for the Parti Québécois; he was in the cabinet of Bernard Drainville under the Marois government.
Her sister, Amélie Dionne, is a CAQ member of Parliament for Rivière-du-Loup–Témiscouata.
Last week, political advisor and strategic communications advisor, Vincent Desmarais, decided to join Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party of Canada. MP Eric Lefebvre had resigned from the CAQ caucus shortly before to become a conservative candidate, while retaining his seat in the National Assembly. Vincent Desmarais joined the Prime Minister’s office during the first mandate, after a stint in the office of parliamentary leader Simon Jolin-Barrette.
A few weeks ago, two other members of François Legault’s cabinet announced their departure. The director of government communications, Isabelle Lewis, moved to the Brotherhood of Police Officers of Montreal. Like Manuel Dionne, she had previously worked in the offices of the Parti Québécois.
For his part, Sébastien Lauzon left his functions as director of government policies and head of regional priorities. He is now at the Catapulte communication firm. Before joining Mr. Legault’s cabinet, he worked in the constituency office of the CAQ MP for Mirabel, Sylvie D’Amours.
Manuel Dionne, Isabelle Lewis and Sébastien Lauzon cite personal reasons to explain their decision.
These departures are attracting attention in particular because there has been little movement around François Legault since he came to power in 2018. They are inevitably analyzed in the context of the poor polls of recent months for the CAQ.
The Prime Minister’s director of strategic planning, Stéphane Gobeil, wanted to “kill the rumor immediately”. “No, I’m not leaving. I remain alongside François Legault,” he wrote on social networks while paying tribute to Manuel Dionne.
