Quebec’s Liberals wrapped up their pre-session caucus Thursday afternoon in Lac Beauport. They emerged, saying the new CAQ government has so far been neither consistent nor clear in many of its positions.
The Liberal interim leader said the government needs to start clarifying where it stands before it leads to mass public confusion.
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Quebec’s government is in a period of transition: it will be another month before the National Assembly reconvenes and the CAQ tables the bills it has promised. The official opposition said it’s waiting for François Legault’s party to put its positions on paper, because right now, according to the Liberals, the new government is all over the map.
“I think that most Quebecers, myself included, are confused by the position of the government and I think the government itself is confused,” said Liberal interim leader Pierre Arcand.
An example took place on Wednesday, when the CAQ held its first caucus. The immigration minister said he’s considering banning public servants from wearing the chador. Then later, the premier said it wasn’t a government priority.
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The Liberals, meanwhile, are also going through a transition. Arcand said that during the election campaign, they failed to inspire people and didn’t focus enough on the environment. Now they will revise some of their positions and try to reconnect with Quebecers.
“That’s something we have to talk about with the party base, the people who are representatives in regions that aren’t necessarily represented in this room behind us, to hear what people were saying everywhere and how we can change our message, adapt our message for the next election,” said MNA André Fortin.
Fortin has the new task of reaching out to the regions, where the Liberal caucus has few MNAs. When asked if the Liberals are out of touch with the voters, the interim leader had an interesting response.
“When you are in a government, you are stuck with a lot of things to do. And of course, sometimes you have a tendency to forget what the people want,” Arcand said. “What we’re doing in the opposition, we’ll have more time to reflect on what the population really wants.”
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