Justin Trudeau’s legacy hailed and contested in Quebec

Reactions to Justin Trudeau’s departure continue in the Quebec region. If some underline his “late” or “harmful” political legacy, others salute his dedication and his legacy for the region.

The mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, began by recognizing the work accomplished by Justin Trudeau since his entry into the House of Commons, first as an MP.

It is important to highlight the dedication that is necessary to be elected over sixteen years to the Canadian Parliamentwrote the mayor on the social network Bluesky. Time will allow us to recognize Canada’s progress during Mr. Trudeau’s nine years as Prime Minister.

Unlike potential successors to the leadership of the Liberal Party like Chrystia Freeland or Mark Carney, who focused on sobriety, the MP for Quebec, Jean-Yves Duclos, highlighted the legacy of Justin Trudeau, particularly in the region.

Over the years, Prime Minister Trudeau has been a powerful force for the people of my own region of Quebec. He helped secure funding for the Quebec City tramway and, after years of negotiations, the federal government purchased the Quebec Bridge, a vital transportation infrastructure. And in 2023, we corrected the historic error of the previous government by integrating the Davie shipyard into the National Shipbuilding Strategy.

Prime Minister Trudeau will leave a lasting positive legacy for Canadiansconcludes the elected official who has been alongside Trudeau since his arrival in parliament in Ottawa in 2015.

For the Quebec region, Mr. Trudeau has been a great ally. Without Justin Trudeau’s political will, we would not have gotten therealso believes his colleague and MP for Louis-Hébert, Joël Lightbound.

There is a lot of goodadds the MP, who still had his share of disagreements with the Prime Minister. I have always had great respect for him and the sacrifices he made as Prime Minister.

Nine years of “acting badly”, according to the CCP

Pierre Paul-Hus, MP for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles and Quebec lieutenant for the Conservative Party of Canada (PCC), welcomes the departure of the Prime Minister. However, he asserts that the situation changes nothing since the Liberals remain in power and avoid a hasty election.

As a whole, the Trudeau government has acted poorly for nine years on the economy, immigration and public security. He announces that he is going to leave in three months, it’s the same thing.

Pierre Paul-Hus intends to bring down the government as quickly as possible when Parliament returns, scheduled for the end of March.

A harmful legacyaccording to the Bloc Québécois

Conversely, the member for Beauport–Limoilou, Julie Vignola, speaks more of a Prime Minister who has systematically interfered in provincial jurisdiction.

Since 2015, we have seen an extraordinarily centralizing government at work, whose interference has been incessant. A government whose only contribution to the fight against global warming was the purchase of a pipeline; a government that has continually opposed Quebec’s choices through its rejection of secularism and its denial of the decline of the French language; a government whose nonchalance in terms of border management and its irresponsible migration policies have had serious consequences on our reception capacity.

Now, the person who succeeds Justin Trudeau will have to call an election as soon as he takes office so that the Liberal party is exposed to the judgment of voterssays Ms. Vignola.

A late legacy according to an expert

In nine years at the head of the country, the Prime Minister has intervened several times in issues related to Quebec.

His legacy in the region came very late, according to Éric Montigny, professor of political science at Laval University.

We can think in particular of the financing of the Quebec tramway, still uncertain. There is funding that has been promised for years, but what we are seeing in the last moments are debates on securing the sums that had been promised for the tramway. This is not an issue that has been completely resolved on the federal side.note l’expert.

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The purchase of the Quebec bridge by Ottawa and the addition of the Davie shipyard, in Lévis, to the Canadian naval strategy also occurred recently.

It was late. We need to start seeing some achievements happening around the turn of 2023-2024notes Éric Montigny.

In 2021, Justin Trudeau’s government also announced the creation of a national day to combat Islamophobia, on January 29, the anniversary of the attack committed at the Grand Mosque of Quebec in 2017.

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And structuring economic heritage with Davie

The current president and CEO of the Quebec Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIQ) wanted to highlight Justin Trudeau’s involvement in adding the Davie shipyard to the Canadian naval strategy. This decision should allow the region to get its hands on investments of $8 billion over 20 years, according to Frédérik Boisvert.

It really is a very structuring legacy at the economic level.

It was not an easy file because we were already talking about adding a player with two other major projects which were already working [dans cette stratégie]. It’s normal that it takes time. I think the business community can be gratefulhe adds.