The Quebec government renewed the public health state of emergency order for the 100th time on Wednesday.
The province’s opposition parties ardently want the government to stop giving itself exceptional powers. However, the government says says lifting the state of emergency isn’t that simple.
In another volatile question period, the leader of the Official Opposition lobbed stinging accusations.
“The premier has forgotten what it means to govern in a democracy,” said Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade.
“(The state of emergency) allows the premier to decide there will be a curfew without debate at the National Assembly, without the opinion of public health,” she continued.
However, the government says it needs the state of emergency to uphold things it has already brought in by decree, like salary bonuses for nurses and mask mandates. Premier François Legault said the government intends to lift the state of emergency in a few weeks.
“The reality is that we could have lifted the state of emergency months ago and replaced it with a specific transitory legislation to give some special powers to government without writing a total blank cheque to Mr. Legault and his ministers,” said Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Quebec Solidaire co-spokesperson.
A new Leger poll conducted for the Journal de Montreal showed a drop in support for the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ).
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It’s still way ahead of its opponents, but an emerging political party appears to be capitalizing on the growing frustration over health measures.
The Conservative Party of Quebec has long called for an end to the measures. It is now polling higher than Quebec Solidaire and the Parti Quebecois.
“There’s a new split, politically-speaking, in Quebec right now,” said leader Éric Duhaime.
“Those who are fighting for their individual freedom…versus those who are concerned by safety,” he said. “And I think the Conservative Party is clearly on one side and the four other parties are on the other side on that.
Duhaime said he believes this divide isn’t going to fade away overnight.
Quebec has announced it’s re-opening and doing away with the vaccine passport by March 14th. Yet another trucker convoy-style protest is scheduled for Quebec City this weekend.
In response, Quebec City is beefing up its bylaws.
“We need to give tools to our police if they need it, to close some streets, to make some change to parking rules,” said Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand.
He said that anything other than peaceful protesting will not be tolerated.
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