CAQ decline in polls motivates Premier Legault

Poor polls for the government are motivating Premier François Legault and making him want to “fight” for Quebecers.

“Concerning the latest polls, I’m very aware that many Quebecers are disappointed with our government,” the Premier admitted in a press scrum Wednesday.

“But for me, it gives me energy, it gives me the desire to fight, over the year and a few months that remain, to deliver even more results to Quebecers,” he added.

A Pallas Data poll released on Tuesday puts the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) in third place with just 15 per cent of voting intentions, 11 points behind the Liberals now led by Pablo Rodriguez. The Parti Québécois (PQ) still leads with 31 per cent.

This isn’t the first poll to show a decline for the CAQ. In May, a Léger poll put Legault’s party at 20 per cent, down four points from the previous poll by the same firm.

Despite this, Legault insists he’ll be on the ballot in the next election. “In October 2026, it will be up to Quebecers to decide whether they want to keep me or not,” he said.

“Vive le Québec libre!”

Legault has returned from an economic visit to France in which he commented on General Charles de Gaulle’s famous 1967 statement “Vive le Québec libre!”, saying it could be interpreted “on several levels.”

“I think René Lévesque took it in the first degree, that’s correct, but it was also to say that the people and nation of Quebec must assert itself within Canada,” said the premier while in the General’s office in Paris.

François Legault’s statement provoked a number of reactions in Quebec. In a column published in Le Devoir Wednesday morning, former PQ leader Jean-François Lisée explained that de Gaulle was explicitly in favour of Quebec’s separation.

“To make things clear, on his return to France, at his first press conference in November, de Gaulle stated that it was in the order of things for Quebec to become ‘a sovereign state, master of its national existence, as are so many other peoples, so many other states throughout the world, which are not so valuable, or even so populous, as this one would be,'” Lisée wrote.

On Wednesday, the premier sought to clarify his remarks, saying he had “never denied that General de Gaulle supported Quebec sovereignty.”

“Yes, General de Gaulle supported Quebec sovereignty, but he did much more than that. He supported the possibility for Quebec to sign agreements in education, in culture, to allow Quebec to sit as a sovereign state on committees of the Francophonie. So, it’s much more than support for Quebec sovereignty,” he said.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews