Events of the Council of Ministers

In the days leading up to the formation of a new government or a major cabinet reshuffle, the question haunts.

Rare are the occasions when journalists can measure, in real time, the omerta surrounding these exercises. On the morning of the announcement, reporters present their scorecards to see if they hit the bull’s-eye or jumped too easily on guesswork.

In these activities, everything is determined at the highest level, but sometimes improvisation. A vice-chancellor had only to choose in front of the dinner plate that the house of cards had prepared to collapse, and he had to start all over again.

Liz Bacon, deputy prime minister under Robert Bourassa, liked to recall changing portfolios four times during a feverish evening when the boss handed out cards. A lot of unexpected decisions.

When she created her cabinet in 2012, Pauline Marois thought her faithful disciple Nicole Leger would accept the tour. But she refused and eventually got a family. This would allow Pascal Perupe to enter the cabinet with a hair’s breadth. We thought of Stephen Bedard for justice. It eventually landed on the Treasury Board. Sylvain Gaudreult was determined not to become a minister. His best ministerial riding neighbors were the two inevitable candidates, Stephane Bedard and Alexandre Cloutier. However Gaudreult received two portfolios, transport and municipal affairs. Voicing for a region does not guarantee anything. Saguenay, which had three ministers under the last PQ government, has voted heavily for Coalition avenir Québec.

Under Jean Charest, there were many surprises. Yves Seguin disturbed the finances and he was served justice. To everyone’s surprise, he refused to resign. At the last minute, Yvonne Marcoux got justice when she was relegated to the benches. Rear after serving in transit. Fortunately, we remembered that he was a lawyer, responsible for justice. Liked the same Yves Séguin le Revenu under Robert Bourassa. Instead it was Speaker of Parliament Michael Gratton who took office. He would only learn about it during the ceremony at the Salon Rouge.

Lucien Bouchard was not immune to surprises. For posterity, Guy Julian appeared in a checked jacket in a government family photograph. Bombing the Minister of Agriculture just before the ceremony, he had no time to wear a dark suit like his colleagues. Daniel Baillet, minister of industry under Jacques Pariseau, was promoted to deputy minister under Bernard Landry – which he turned down – to head of the economy.

Back seats

Pushing a minister to the back seat is a subtle move. François Legault limited the damage by making only two unlucky Thursdays, Pierre Dufour and Lucie Lecours. Without much trouble, he demoted three ministers from 2018: Mary Chantal Chase, Sylvie d’Amores and Marie-Ave Proulx. After these elections, Claire Samson looked forward to the Ministry of Culture. Left unscathed, she went to Eric Duheim’s curators for revenge.

Jean Caron was not in harmony with the decisions of the PQ government when Lucien Bouchard eliminated education, where Jacques Pariseau appointed him, a surprising choice. Bernard Landry deposed staunch opponents, Guy Chevret and Jacques Brassard, charged with the poor work of promoting sovereignty.

Jean Charest had to deal with the tyranny of one Thomas Mulcair, who wrested the environment portfolio from him. Robert Boetti, ousted from Transport by Philippe Couillard, raised doubts about the ministry’s management and put a spoke in the wheels of his successor, Jacques Toust.

The decision to elevate a member to the holy place sometimes leaves the prime minister’s hands. Rita Dion-Marsolais announced to Bernard Landry that she would be neutral in a possible race for the leadership of the PQ. “I will also be neutral in the next reshuffle,” he warned.

In recent days, noise filtered through that two heavyweights of government, Pierre Fitzgibbon and Eric Girard, had intervened to say that Simon Jolin-Barrett would no longer have responsibility for language, a request from the business community. Girard will now be responsible for relations with Anglophones.

Sometimes, riders line up at the start line and try to influence the outcome by spreading rumours. Rémy Trudel, then MNA of Rouyn-Noranda-Témiscamingue, was well aware that his region could not have two ministers. He spread the rumor that his colleague François Gendron would prefer the presidency of the National Assembly to a portfolio. On the critical day, Trudel became Minister of Agriculture and Gendron declined the post of Chamber President.

Sometimes the Prime Minister’s Office prepares the ground. Under Jean Charest, we suddenly learned that Lawrence Bergman, the minister of revenue, had health problems. A ready-made excuse to explain a downgrade.

Bergman pleads that he is in better shape to the honest and somewhat overwhelmed reporter who leaked this information. “We can walk around the parliament together, and you will breathe before me!”, Bergman, always friendly, began.

I did not accept the challenge.