‘Imagine what we’ll achieve in four years’: Fréchette appeals to Quebecers touting her 2-week record at caucus meeting

After two weeks at the helm of the government, Christine Fréchette invited Quebecers on Friday to imagine what a four-year term under her leadership would look like.

In a speech to Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) MNAs gathered in Rivière-du-Loup, Fréchette was keen to turn the page on François Legault’s eight years in office.

“We have given the party a new lease of life,” she said. “We’re not going to slow down now.”

The Premier notably highlighted that she had reached an agreement with the Fédération des médecins spécialistes (FMSQ) and that she had travelled to Washington on Monday.

She also boasted of having “unblocked” the issue of the reconstruction of the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal – incidentally, the opposition parties had accused the CAQ of doing everything in its power to delay this project for several years.

She has highlighted her achievements since being elected party leader on April 12 to campaign for another term in the upcoming elections in October.

“If that’s what we’ve achieved in two weeks, imagine what we’ll achieve in four years,” she declared to cheers and applause from her MNA colleagues.

Around ten members of the 79-strong CAQ caucus were apparently absent for various reasons on Friday morning.

Notably, Shirley Dorismond, the MNA for Marie-Victorin, was absent; she had backed Fréchette’s rival, Bernard Drainville, in the CAQ leadership race and had said she was considering her future.

During a press scrum, Deputy Premier Ian Lafrenière was unable to guarantee that there would be no further departures from the CAQ caucus.

“Are there people who are disappointed (at not having been appointed to the cabinet)? Yes, but the vast majority of people I see around me are people who are keen to get on with the job,” he said, urging those who were reluctant or dissatisfied to rally behind the party.

“We’re on a high-speed train; we don’t have much time to deliver (results), and the next stop is the general election. I understand if some people decide to stay at the station, but we have to move forward.”

“We’re on a high-speed train; we don’t have much time to deliver (results), and the next stop is the general election. I understand that some people may choose to stay at the station, but we have to keep moving forward.”

Friday’s caucus meeting will serve, in particular, to “set the government’s priorities,” he added, as the parliamentary session resumes on Tuesday, with only five weeks of work remaining before the summer recess and the Oct. 5 election.

Several bills are still under consideration, so the government will likely have to sort out what it absolutely wants to pass and what it is willing to give up.

What about Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette’s ambitious and controversial Quebec constitution project?

“We’ve said we’re continuing to study it, and we’ll see how the proceedings (in the parliamentary committee) go,” Lafrenière replied.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews