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QUEBEC — The co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire says he was flabbergasted to hear Premier François Legault call for the ouster of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government because in his mind it amounts to endorsing federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and all that he stands for.
“I fell off my chair,” Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois told reporters Tuesday. “Mr. Legault has no mandate to be the No. 1 volunteer of Pierre Poilievre in Quebec.
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“Quebecers did not give him that mandate. One-third of the Conservative caucus is clearly against women’s choice. According to abortion rights surveillance groups, a majority, even 70 per cent of the Conservative caucus, has shown positions that could go in the direction of restricting the rights to abortion.
“It’s a serious issue. We should not accept that the premier of Quebec is, directly or indirectly, putting wind behind Mr. Poilievre’s boat.”
On Thursday, Legault sparked a controversy when to the surprise of many he indicated he had no more confidence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and was urging the Bloc Québécois to support a Conservative no-confidence motion to bring down the Liberal government.
Legault said the Trudeau government must go because it’s allowing too many temporary immigrants into Quebec, a policy he argued is “weakening the Quebec nation.”
Legault made the pitch by pressing Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon to lean on Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet. Both St-Pierre Plamondon and Blanchet refused to play along with Legault.
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Analysts have been trying to figure out what Legault’s intentions were. On Tuesday, opposition parties commented further as they arrived for the week in the legislature.
“The mandate of François Legault is to take care of our education system, of our health-care system,” Nadeau-Dubois said.
“He has to solve the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, not campaign for a party that today has a member of Parliament attending an extreme-right religious congress in the United States preaching against the right of women to choose.
“Mr. Legault likes to talk about Quebec values, but one thing is clear, a social regression in Quebec and Canada on the right to abortion is not possible.
“François Legault needs to get himself under control and re-centre himself on the mandate he got from Quebecers. François Legault has to stop this and stop campaigning for Pierre Poilievre.”
Quebec interim Liberal Marc Tanguay had a similar take on the outburst.
“It’s a smokescreen,” Tanguay said. “I think his main objective was to change the narrative after all the bad news we have on this government not providing public services and Northvolt, for instance.
“I think that he wanted to embarrass the PQ, but as premier you cannot use that stratagem, change the narrative while not doing your job, which is providing a strong economy for good services.”
X.com/philipauthier
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