François Legault will avoid publicly hitting Justin Trudeau, who has just knelt on the ground, so as not to weaken him further in the face of Donald Trump. An ideological gap, however, separates the two men and the CAQ leader will be happy to move on to another dance partner at the federal level.
In the office of the Prime Minister of Quebec, over the years, we have constantly deplored the attitude of Justin Trudeau, described as “the most centralizing prime minister in recent Canadian history.”
The Liberal leader spent blindly, plowing without any hesitation in areas of provincial jurisdiction.
Health, education, homelessness, housing… one intrusion after another, to the great dismay of the CAQ government.
On sensitive issues such as language, immigration, secularism, the respective positions were impossible to reconcile.
Where the CAQ leader pleaded for a fight against the decline of French, Trudeau was worried about the rights of Anglophones.
The federal Prime Minister contrasted the importance of respecting Quebec values with his sacrosanct principle of individual freedom.
Inevitably, there were moments of high tension.
The main one being when François Legault advocated for the election of a minority Conservative government in 2021, thus asking voters to fire Justin Trudeau.
He then described him as “dangerous”.
Justin’s wall
Time and again, the Liberal Prime Minister has cavalierly rejected Quebec’s demands, while maintaining a sparkling condescending smile.
No new immigration powers.
No fairer distribution of asylum seekers.
At best, François Legault and the facts themselves ended up making the stubborn Trudeau bend a little, who ended up admitting half-heartedly that he had opened the immigration floodgates too much.
Despite everything, there was no contempt or personal hatred between the two men, they say in Quebec.
A few moments of celebration also dotted the relationship.
When announcing the investment in Northvolt, or the inclusion of Chantier Davie in the federal naval strategy, the CAQ praised “Justin”, affectionately calling him by his first name.
Concern and questions
In the Quebec government, we are worried about the message that Trudeau’s resignation sends to Donald Trump, at a time when we must prevent him from decreeing customs tariffs that would hurt.
If Pierre Poilievre became Prime Minister of Canada, his approach would surely be less centralizing than that of Trudeau.
On the other hand, the CAQ members wonder what his precise position would be on immigration.
Whether it would maintain investments in the battery sector, or in the fight against climate change.
So there are questions.
But on the fundamental questions of identity and respect for skills, François Legault probably says “good riddance”, seeing Justin Trudeau say goodbye.
After this long love/hate relationship, he won’t shed a tear.
