CAQ convention: Legault to be tested at confidence vote this weekend

Will François Legault's armour be scratched at the end of the national convention this weekend in Sherbrooke?

The Quebec premier and Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) leader must pass the vote of confidence test by his delegates for the second time in his career. In 2014, Legault received a staggering 97.2 per cent.

The 2020 confidence vote was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the CAQ has dropped down slightly in the polls, with the abandonment of several of its flagship promises -- including the third link project between Quebec City and Lévis -- causing a stir.

Will there be grumblings among the roughly 850 CAQ members gathered at the convention on Saturday and Sunday?

One thing is for certain: the bar is high. The person benefiting most from the CAQ's decline in the polls, Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, obtained 98.5 per cent of support when delegates voted on his leadership in March.

PERILOUS TESTS

Historically, the confidence vote exercise has sometimes been painful, even fateful, for political party leaders.

In Ottawa, Martine Ouellet, then leader of the Bloc Québécois, was shown the door in 2018 with 32 per cent of support.

In 2016, Tom Mulcair of the New Democratic Party (NDP) scored 48 per cent, well below his target of 70 per cent. However, he remained in office until his successor was named in 2017.

In 2005, Quebec's Bernard Landry, then opposition leader, resigned after winning the support of 76.2 per cent of the delegates at the convention, to the surprise of everyone.

In addition to Landry's shock departure, PQ conventions have been perilous ordeals for other leaders as well.

In 1996, Lucien Bouchard, despite the aura surrounding him following the 1995 referendum, won 76.7 per cent of the votes cast by PQ delegates. But Jacques Parizeau, in 1992, won 92 per cent of his troops' vote.

In 1982, after threatening to resign, the founding father of the PQ, Premier René Levesque, obtained a score of 95 per cent.

CONVENTION THEMES

The CAQ representatives meeting in Sherbrooke will debate 32 proposals, many of which deal with energy.

"The energy transition is the challenge of the century," reads the proposals booklet.

They want to build new dams, improve the energy efficiency of Quebec's buildings, and require the installation of an electric charging station in any gas station with more than six pumps.

Also on the table is a proposal to offer $1,000 to the parents of each child born in Quebec, to be deposited in a registered education savings plan.

They also want parents to be able to withdraw an amount from their registered retirement savings plan, exempt from provincial taxes, to contribute to a down payment for their child's first principal residence.

In addition, some CAQ members are calling on Ottawa to give them full control over the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Some will also use the convention to call for an end to the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) monopoly. Finance Minister Eric Girard, however, has closed the door on this idea.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 12, 2023.