Robert Libman: Quebec Liberals need to find their footing – Montreal Gazette

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This coming year will be a true test of Dominique Anglades leadership, which hasnt been easy so far.

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With less than a year before the provincial election, the official Opposition Liberal Party has been going through some internal strife. Leader Dominique Anglade has demoted two MNAs Gatan Barrette and Marie Montpetit for publicly sparring on Twitter about the governments battle with doctors, and then expelled Montpetit from caucus amid allegations related to workplace harassment.

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This coming year will be a true test of Anglades leadership, which hasnt been easy so far. She was acclaimed leader of the party just two months into the pandemic, so has had to cede practically all media space to Premier Franois Legault, Health Minister Christian Dub and Quebecs director of public health, Horacio Arruda. It seems fair to say most Quebecers are generally satisfied with the way all three have been managing the crisis.

The Liberals under Anglades leadership seem to be struggling to find their identity and carve out a meaningful space on the political landscape. Her leadership campaign emphasized the need to expand the partys support beyond Montreal after the partys worst defeat ever in the 2018 election, which left them only a handful of seats off the island. This potential expansion of support seems not to have materialized, and her supportive position of Bill 96 and tougher language regulations has alienated the partys anglophone base in Montreal. She also hasnt really distinguished herself in question period in the National Assembly, typically a forum to showcase political forcefulness.

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Six months can be an eternity in politics, but polls continue to foreshadow another sweep by the CAQ, leaving some crumbs to be shared by the other parties. The CAQ has usurped a big chunk of the clientele of both the Parti Qubcois and Liberals, the only two parties that have alternated governing Quebec for the past 50 years. The PQ is facing its own existential crisis as most nationalist Quebecers seem to prefer the Legault approach of a nation within Canada full autonomy with all the selfish trappings of the Canadian federation, such as transfer and equalization payments, and currency. Why the need for independence if they can have their cake and eat it too?

The other option is Qubec solidaire at the left end of the spectrum, also a sovereignist party that has hived off much of the PQs progressive base. With the political maturation of their young leader, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, they might be the next official opposition if the Liberals dont quickly find their feet somewhere relevant. There is a lot of middle ground between the CAQ and QS, but the Liberals need a strong leader to lay down the sod.

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Legault wont maintain this level of popularity indefinitely. Quebecers are fickle and rarely give their leaders more than a second term. For the next election, however, many Liberals see the writing on the wall, but with no obvious saviour are likely to remain behind Anglade (although she must keep this latest turmoil quashed and ensure cracks dont keep reappearing).

In the coming year Anglade will have the high-profile language debate over Bill 96, now in committee, hitting the floor of the National Assembly. The Liberals will push for some amendments, but will they eventually support it for political expediency? Or will she take a principled stand on certain aspects of the bill, such as the notwithstanding clause?

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Will she veer right or left?

Will she strike a more nationalist or more federalist posture?

These are all issues of self-identification that the Liberals must reconcile to find a way back in the game and distinguish themselves. Otherwise, the party that has been around since Confederation may just become a third-party rump in the Assembly come October.

Robert Libman is an architect and building planning consultant who has served as Equality Party leader and MNA, as mayor of Cte-St-Luc and as a member of the Montreal executive committee. He was a Conservative candidate in the 2015 federal election.

twitter.com/@robertlibman

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Robert Libman: Quebec Liberals need to find their footing - Montreal Gazette