New Liberal leader bets Quebec wants a change from CAQ
By David Winch
Local Journalism Initiative
The Quebec Liberal leadership convention ended Saturday with excited cries of “Pablo! Pablo!”, and the hours before were plenty suspenseful. Political speeches stressed party unity, but there was a serious contest among three top candidates — Pablo Rodriguez, Charles Milliard and Karl Blackburn —to be leader of the provincial party.
The candidates finished in a predictable order, with Rodriguez coming out on top with 52.3 per cent of the adjusted final vote between two candidates, with Milliard at 47.7 per cent. This followed a first-ballot result with Rodriguez at 37 per cent to Charles Milliard’s 27.9 per cent.
Blackburn finished third, and two minor candidates won less than 4 per cent of votes cast.
Stressed mismanagement
Many Liberal, media and other personalities crowded into the Quebec convention centre, including former Premiers Daniel Johnson, Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard, and defeated leader Dominique Anglade. Each of these gave rousing speeches, often blasting the CAQ for financial mismanagement and “divisive” cultural policies.
Liberal speakers pointed out that they left power in 2018 with a budget surplus of $7 billion, which has turned under the Legault administration into a deficit of $13 billion.
– A $20 billion reversal! they cried.
Former leaders also emphasized that the CAQ election programme stressed management and efficiency, but its government has been breathtakingly sloppy and ineffective — most notoriously in the SAAQclic scandal, with half a billion being spent on a failed software system, and the $270 million poured into a bankrupt Northvolt EV battery operation.
A feisty Jean Charest pointed out that the Bombardier-built Airbus 220 project was roundly denounced by opposition member François Legault in 2015 during the Couillard administration. However, this month, the Premier will be in Paris at the Bourget air show touting the same, now very successful Bombardier product, which is likely to anchor the Montreal aerospace industry for decades.
