Francois Legault Finally Announces Official Launch of His New Provincial Party–Coalition pour l’Avenir du Quebec Tomorrow

Well, boys ‘n’ girls, it looks like this is the moment many have been waiting for; the moment where Francois Legault’s fictitious party becomes a reality.  He is to announce this tomorrow.  It should be interesting to see how those same polls who had Legault on top, as a fictitious party, will have them polled as a real party.  Is this the real deal or was this a case of fantasy, where it is believed that one who will not likely see any kind of power, simply polls highest?  I mean, after all, when I ran a (very unscientific, mind you) poll on my blog as to who would’ve made a better prime minister, Margaret Atwood’s turnip was primed to win a majority for awhile.

Francois Legault had already outlined much of what his party platform would be.

Legault’s team is preparing an “action plan” to present Monday. He’s proposing to cut thousands of government jobs, do away with school boards and mid-level heath agencies, raise teachers’ and doctors’ salaries, use resource royalties to pay down the debt, and finally make Quebec a “have” province.

What Legault Doesn’t Say– How exactly he Would Implement these Proposals?

I see that those so-called teachers’ raises was not expanded upon in that article I linked to. In reality, Legault proposes raises and salary based on merit alone.  Teachers would have to undergo some kind of evaluation. Legault never really explained how these teachers would be evaluated?Who would evaluate them? What exactly constitutes an ‘ideal teacher’ who would merit a salary increase and why a teacher should be fired or at the very least, penalized?  I fear it would be based solely on a popularity contest, no matter what kind of body would be charged with the evaluation.

He also wanted to abolish CEGEPs, although, for now, he has back tracked on that. His reasoning behind it was stupid and false.

His characterization of CEGEPS as a place to go to learn how to smoke dope and drop out

Wrong! Young people learn how to smoke dope and drop out in high school. In fact, I bet if statistics were compiled, it would likely find that more drop out and smoke dope from high school and not in CEGEP.  Perhaps Mr Legault would want to do away with high schools, using his convoluted logic?

He also proposes raises for Doctors and that ‘everyone would have a family doctor’. What’s the catch? Ah, yes, expansion of the private sector health care system, which, as everyone knows, would further erode the public. Hey Francois! Don’t you meant that only your rich well healed friends would have family doctors?

As for resource royalties to ‘pay down the debt’.  Gee, let the fracking for shale gas games begin?  Yes, of course there is also the deal previous resource minister, Nathalie Normandeau signed on to, regarding the Old Harry oil and gas reserve.  As for Plan Nord, which Premier Johnny-Boy has already introduced, I question the environmental impacts in the North and how many Aboriginals would be displaced?

Naturally,  Legault, like any good pro-business righty, offers no proposal for green jobs and green energy.

Cutting government jobs. Well, does he have an idea on how to motivate the private sector into hiring these laid off workers? Of course not.  I mean, what ideological austerity budget would even deal with job creation?  And in cutting those public servant jobs, how will services be delivered? All about destruction, in more ways than one.

Oh, and did I mention, Union busting?

He also promised to shelve any sovereignty or constitution repatriation into Canada for about 10 years.

Chances

West-Island Anglophone Federalists

As mentioned above, I wonder how they will poll once Francois Legault’s  CAQ becomes a reality?  Right now, right winged Anglophones from Montreal’s west end are flirting with him, but when will that honeymoon end?

Montreal’s right winged Anglos who are staunch federalists may not continue to flirt with him and his party once they actually see what they’re about.  Oh, they will and do embrace the pro-business right winged ideas.  However, the fact still remains that Legault was, once upon a time, a staunch sovereigntist under the Parti-Quebecois brand.   Anglophones, particularly from Montreal’s west end, tend not to trust candidates or parties that are ambiguous over the federalist v sovereigntist questions. Case in point would be the 2007 provincial election, when Mario Dumont’s ADQ surged to official opposition and knocked Premier Johnny-Boy and the Liberals to minority situation. If anyone took a look at the 2007 electoral map at the time, Mario Dumont and the ADQ didn’t take one Montreal seat–not even a West-Island  riding.  One main reason for that was that Dumont was much too ambiguous and he did campaign for the “yes” side in the 1995 referendum on sovereignty.  Anglophone federalists, in particular, frown on that.

Sure they bitch about the Quebec Liberal Party not fighting enough for Anglophone rights in la belle province, after all, many of our language laws, particularly those pertaining to signs,  happened under Liberal watch, under then premier  Bou-bou Bourassa.  However, after listening to Francois Legault speak on  CJAD on a variety of talk shows, he’s made it clear that he would be even more of a language hawk than the Liberals are today.  Legault is of the belief, like many other language hawks, that the French language is in danger here in La Belle province.

Francophone Quebecers

Like the ADQ led by Mario Dumont, there would be a better chance for Legault.  Particularly amongst rural and small town ridings where folks tend to be more right leaning to begin with.

However, not so much with the Progressive French Quebecers who tend to live in Montreal. Again, Mario Dumont failed to gain those ridings.

Overall

Francois Legault and the CAQ are more likely a none of the above vote that Quebecers tend to lean toward these days.  However, latest polls indicate that if Gilles Duceppe were leading the Parti-Quebecois, he would be able to take Francois Legault and the CAQ.  This tells me that a) Quebecers, for the most part, are still progressive and b) this is more of a who’s not Pauline Marois or Premier Johnny-Boy.

Another reason for voting in Legault and the CAQ would be that they have never been implicated in the construction scandals in any shape or form, that the Liberals and PQ have.  Although, Legault was a PQ MNA while the systemic problems with the construction industry continue.

Given that a provincial election won’t be held until, at least, next year, it is possible that Legault and the CAQ’s honeymoon will be over.

Merger With The ADQ?

Action Democratique  Quebec party leader, Gerard Deltell, is absolutely salivating at this time as he is anxious to discuss merger with Francois Legault and his new merry band of pro-business,  and probably, pro-Stevie Spiteful. Informal talks between Francois Legault and Gerard Deltell have already begun.

Deltell will enter into formal discussions with Legault to see “if an alliance is possible based on shared ideas” between the two parties.

But in the letter, Deltell insisted the ADQ will not simply be swallowed up by the new group.

Deltell is out of luck there. It seems that a) Legault wouldn’t be interested in swallowing the ADQ’s debt.

Not helping matters, the ADQ’s accumulated deficit stood at $710,703 at the end of 2010, making a merger with the Coalition difficult.

No, I don’t see Legault wanting to absorb that debt neither.  In fact, at this time, he is ruling out any merger with Deltell and the ADQ. He is favouring swallowing up surviving ADQ members.  There is interest in joining the CAQ, as well:

Former ADQ MNAs Marc Picard and Éric Caire are expected to join the Coalition, along with Benoit Charette, who left the Parti Québécois caucus, saying he agreed with Legault’s plan to put aside another sovereignty referendum.

On Tuesday, Richard Merlini, former ADQ MNA for Chambly riding, said he was ready to run for the Coalition in La Prairie, now held by the PQ’s François Rebello.

Furthermore, despite both parties being right of center, there are major differences. Legault is still very much a sovereigntist. He hasn’t completely ruled it out–he merely promotes putting those kind of talks on hold.  Gerard Deltell, on the other hand, is a federalist. Not a great beginning for a marriage made in heaven, or in this case, hell.

Although, polls did suggest that if they merged, they would win an election by about 48%.

The Announcement November 14

Surely, he will outline his platform more in detail, which he claims is ‘slightly right on the economic front and slightly left on social values’.  What the hell does he mean? ‘Slightly’ left, socially? Could this mean he would embrace Stevie Spiteful’s dumb on crime? Or something just as hideous? He’s even dressed it up as a so-called ‘efficient left’. Reminds me of the cheesy tv ad below:

Yep, he is already sounding like a typical politician.  Then again, he is.