A decade of upheaval in Quebec politics: Religion, corruption, the CAQ, activist youth – Montreal Gazette

The last decade was tumultuous in Quebec politics and there wasn’t even a referendum.

The period was bookmarked by divisive debates over religious symbols. The political landscape was upturned as two historic parties crumbled and two upstarts rose. The first female premier was elected. And activist youth shook the province — twice.

Here’s a portrait of an eventful decade in Quebec political history.

Dark clouds for Liberals, PQ

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Early in the decade, a Liberal — Jean Charest — was premier and the Parti Québécois was the official opposition under Pauline Marois. But in 2010, storm clouds were gathering for the two parties, which had alternated in power in Quebec for more than four decades. Liberal support was collapsing. Media were swirling with stories about corruption in government contracts and criminal control of the province’s construction industry. And voters were telling pollsters they didn’t think Charest would do anything about it. Over at the PQ, Marois’s leadership was under scrutiny. Polls showed francophone voters would happily abandon the party René Lévesque founded for one that didn’t even exist yet. They were intrigued by news that behind the scenes, former PQ minister and businessman François Legault was building a new right-of-centre party that would shelve sovereignty.

Corruption clamour

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For two years, just about everybody in Quebec was calling for an inquiry into corruption in Quebec. The key holdout: Charest. He finally relented in October 2011, launching a public inquiry to investigate 1) collusion and corruption in public construction contracts, 2) whether such crimes were linked to political party fundraising, and 3) the role organized crime played in the construction industry. With Justice France Charbonneau at the helm, its hearings were broadcast live and Quebecers were riveted to 261 days of public testimony. Civil servants were being paid off. Above-board contractors were being harassed. Construction and engineering firms were rigging bids. In some cases, the Mafia controlled which companies won contracts, how much they would charge, and got a percentage of the take. The machinations were producing substandard infrastructure and costing taxpayers untold millions. It took four years for the $45-million Charbonneau Commission to publish its final report, a period during which Quebec twice changed government, first turfing Charest in favour of Marois and then replacing Marois with Liberal Philippe Couillard. In its final report in 2015, the Charbonneau commission said corruption and collusion was “widespread and deeply rooted; it made 60 recommendations. A year later, most recommendations had not been implemented, an anticorruption monitoring group said at the time. And three-quarters of Quebecers surveyed said corruption under Couillard was as significant or more significant than under previous premiers.

Youth in the streets, take 1

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Quebec youth took to the streets en masse in 2012, demanding a university tuition freeze. They were up in arms against a Liberal government plan to hike tuition fees, among the lowest in Canada, by 75 per cent via annual $325 increases over five years. With small red squares of fabric safety-pinned to their clothes, tens of thousands of protesting CEGEP and university students boycotted classes, regularly paralyzing Montreal streets. Some demos turned violent, making international headlines. Dubbed the Maple Spring, the movement fizzled out in the summer. An election was in the offing and the protesters had an ally in Marois; the PQ leader had worn a red square in the National Assembly for months and at one point clanged pot lids together as she joined a demo. After she won power in September 2012, Marois cancelled the Liberal tuition hike. But she also slashed university funding by $124 million and later hiked tuition by three per cent, or about $70. That hike led to more demos in the spring of 2013, with some now calling for the abolition of tuition fee. Today, Quebec’s tuition is the second lowest in Canada, after Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2019-20, fees jumped by 3.7 per cent, almost twice the rate of inflation.

Historic election

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Quebec made history in 2012, electing its first female premier. But Marois’s election night celebration at PQ headquarters was marred by a burst of political violence, a rarity in Canada. The new PQ premier was whisked off the stage as she gave her victory speech. Richard Henry Bain had opened fire outside, killing stage technician Denis Blanchette. Bain later wrote to his psychiatrist that his plan was to kill “as many separatists as possible” and that he would have killed more people had his gun not jammed. Marois’s ascension to power came as another woman was soaring: Françoise David of the left-wing sovereignist Québec solidaire, one of Quebec’s most popular politicians at the time. David’s impressive performance in the leaders’ election debate helped her party siphon votes away from the PQ, depriving Marois of a majority. Marois’s reign was short-lived. After just 19 months, she was defeated by Couillard.

Religious symbols, take 1

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Quebecers had spent part of the previous decade arguing over “reasonable accommodation” — the relaxing of rules in favour of people threatened with discrimination. In 2013, Marois tried to exploit resentment among some Quebecers by proposing a Charter of Quebec Values under which public workers — including teachers, professors, civil servants and doctors — would be prohibited from wearing “overt and conspicuous” religious symbols such as burkas, hijabs, kippahs, turbans and “large” crosses at work. The proposal, complete with diagrams to show what could and could not be worn, was highly controversial, with some institutions saying they would defy the law. But the PQ’s charter failed to become law after Marois called an election and was defeated by Couillard. Some attribute her 2014 loss in part to the backlash over her proposed charter.

Rise and fall of PKP

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Pierre Karl Péladeau, head of the Quebecor business empire launched by his father, entered politics with a bang in 2014. Standing next to Marois, who had recruited him as a star PQ candidate, Péladeau passionately pumped his fist in the air, saying his main goal was to make Quebec a country. The candidacy of the rich, powerful businessman sent shock waves through Canada; one national magazine ran a photo of a determined-looking Péladeau on its cover, asking: “Is this the man who will break up Canada?” It didn’t work out that way. The fist pump became an enduring image of the ensuing election campaign. That put sovereignty on the forefront, to Marois’s detriment, as many Quebecers were not keen on another referendum. After Marois’s government fell, Péladeau took over as party leader in May 2015. But his tenure was short: he quit just under a year later as leader and MNA. In the midst of a difficult divorce from TV personality Julie Snyder, he cited family reasons. But Péladeau remains a key figure in politics. Quebecor is a print, broadcasting and online juggernaut that is dominated by nationalist voices. And Péladeau is still personally present: he stole the show at a Bloc Québécois rally in August, and he’s not afraid to publicly castigate the Legault government.

The CAQ era begins

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Beginning in 1976, two parties dominated Quebec politics, but over the course of the last three elections the Liberals and PQ saw their fortunes sink as Quebecers increasingly looked for fresh ideas. Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec, a centre-right, nationalist party that brought together federalists and sovereignists, won a decisive majority in 2018. More than a year later, the honeymoon continues. The CAQ easily won a byelection in December and Legault is the most popular premier in Canada. Another relatively new party is also on the upswing. In the 2018 election, Québec solidaire attracted left-wing sovereignists and environmentally-conscious voters away from the PQ. Québec solidaire, born in 2006, has 10 seats in the National Assembly, one more than the fourth-place PQ. The Liberals, for their part, came second in 2018, but that result belies its dire situation. Polls show francophones, who make up the majority in the vast majority of Quebec ridings, want nothing to do with the Liberals. Today, the party, which traces its roots back to 1867, has no MNAs east of its Montreal bastion. Rudderless, the PQ and the Liberals both end the decade desperately looking for a leader who can breathe new life into them.

Religious symbols, take 2

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When it comes to religious symbols, the CAQ succeeded where the PQ failed. Buoyed by a rise in nationalism, one of Legault’s first acts as premier was to introduce Bill 21, a law that prohibits government workers deemed to be in positions of authority — including teachers, police, judges — from wearing symbols such as the hijab and the kippah at work. Opposed by many among religious and linguistic minorities, the law, which came into force in June, is popular among the majority, largely Catholic population. The government invoked the notwithstanding clause, which prevents citizens from challenging a law for violating parts of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, lawsuits contending the bill is discriminatory were launched. In December, Quebec’s Court of Appeal rejected a motion to suspend the law while the Superior Court examines whether the law itself is unconstitutional. That court is expected to start hearing the case in the fall of 2020.

Students in the streets, take 2

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Seven years after the red-square protests, a new youth movement arose in the dying days of the decade. Inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, Quebec young people again took massively to the streets in 2019, this time to demand action on climate change. They held weekly Friday rallies, often skipping school, culminating in what was described as the biggest rally in Quebec history. Led by Thunberg herself, an estimated crowd of 500,000 dominated by young people took over Montreal streets in September. The youth-led demand for action helped make the environment a major issue in the federal election, held three weeks after the rally. And after largely ignoring climate change during its rise to power, Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec government also took notice. Criticized for sitting out this year’s United Nations climate summit, Legault now says he’ll be there next year.

Where were they then?

A decade ago, some of today’s political leaders were not on the front lines.

• Legault quit politics in 2009, lamenting that “Quebec is going into a quiet decline.” He launched the CAQ two years later.
• Interim Liberal leader Pierre Arcand, a former broadcasting executive recently arrived in politics, was Quebec’s environment minister in 2010.
• Manon Massé, co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, worked for the Centre des Femmes de Laval, while her co-spokesperson, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, was a prominent student activist.
• Pascal Berube, now the PQ’s interim leader, was an obscure opposition critic focusing on tourism, wildlife and fisheries.

Quebec by the numbers: Then and now

Population
2010: 7.9 million
2018: 8.4 million

Number of people 100 years old or older
2010: 1,773
2018: 2,340

Mother tongue, Montreal Island
2006:
French: 48.7%
English: 16.8%
Other: 31.8%
Multiple: 2.7%

2016:
French: 46.1%
English: 16.1%
Other: 33.2%
Multiple: 4.6%

Average single-family house value, city of Montreal
2010: $398,000
2019: $601,000

Minimum wage
2009: $9
2019: $12.50

Per capita greenhouse gas emissions
2010: 10.4 tonnes
2018: 9.6 tonnes

Top source of immigrants
2007-2011: France
2012-2016: China

Unemployment 
2010: 8 per cent
2018: 5.5 per cent

Support for sovereignty
2010: 42 per cent
2018: 31 per cent

Sources: Institut de la statistique du Québec, Statistics Canada, City of Montreal, —Léger Marketing , Ipsos

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