CAQ ministers Blais and McCann won't run again in upcoming Quebec election

By announcing the upcoming departure of Marguerite Blais and Danielle McCann, the Legault government "de facto recognizes that they have not played their role," according to the Parti Québécois (PQ).

Parliamentary leader, Joël Arseneau, reacted Friday to the information first published in the Journal de Montréal that the two ministers will not run again in the next election.

Blais and McCann have been at the centre of controversy for several days, as information continues to leak out about the tragedy that occurred in the CHSLDs in the spring of 2020.

Quebecers learned that the ministers were aware of the problems at CHSLD Herron 10 days before a shock report was published on April 10, 2020, which reported 31 deaths at the facility.

Blais, who is the minister responsible for seniors, and McCann, the former health minister, have always maintained that they were not aware of the extent of the crisis at Herron until April 10, 2020.

McCann confirmed her departure on social media Friday morning. "I would have liked to announce it to the citizens of my county first, but I will not be running again," she wrote. "I will be a grandmother in the spring. This is one of the most beautiful news, and it pushes me to devote myself to my family. I will update the citizens of Sanguinet shortly."

Later in the day, Blais followed her colleague's lead: "After 15 years, it's time to think about myself and my family," she said.

"I have dedicated a great deal of my life to our seniors and to all the caregivers in Quebec. This is why I have decided to return to politics in 2018 for one term only, with our Premier François Legault, whom I cannot thank enough for his support."

SLEIGHT OF HAND

The timing of these departures is not insignificant, said Arseneau, who speaks of a "trick" and a "sleight of hand" to "take the pressure off' after a difficult week."

"It's an indication that they are trying to do damage control, but it's also an indication that they are acknowledging the departmental responsibility that has not been properly assumed," he said.

Above all, he believes that this is the government's way of acknowledging its mistakes:

"Don't ask any more questions, look the other way, the case is heard. It's not that simple," he said. 

Judging that Quebec was experiencing its own "Watergate," the PQ called for the immediate departure of the ministers, as well as the launching of a public and independent inquiry into the management of the pandemic.

"The government prefers to keep up appearances rather than tell us the truth. It's like Watergate in Quebec. We need to go much further to try to understand what really happened," said Arseneau. 

The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) and Quebec solidaire (QS) are also calling for such an inquiry. On Friday, Liberal MNA Marie-Claude Nichols accused the government of wanting to "distract."

"It's a scandal, what happened in the CHSLDs," she said.

According Andrés Fontecilla, a QS MNA, "it was written in the sky" that Blais and McCann would leave political life. They would have been "a real drag" for their party in the election campaign, he said.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 8, 2022.