Meetings with Legault: Dominique Anglade withdraws

The leader of the Liberal Party, Dominique Anglade

One meeting was enough for Dominique Anglade. The Liberal leader is withdrawing from the second meeting scheduled between the oppositions and Prime Minister François Legault.

These meetings have been held at the request of the opposition parties every week, on Fridays, since mid-December. They allow the parties to discuss the government's strategies in the fight against the pandemic, and to make proposals.

Ms. Anglade would have liked the media to be able to attend these weekly meetings. This is what she confirmed, relaying an article from La Presse in which her departure from the weekly meetings is revealed.

The firm declined to provide further information to Subway. “We will not be another line of communication for François Legault”, we simply mentioned.

These virtual meetings will end in February, when elected officials return to the National Assembly. Dominique Anglade also hoped that elected officials could return to the Blue Salon from mid-January, considering that a debate should be held on the methods taken to fight against the rise of the Omicron variant.

The government had refused his proposal, recalling that Public Health recommended teleworking, and that to sit would have been “counter-intuitive”.

Angalde's alleged political game

In François Legault's camp, it is estimated that Dominique Anglade went there to “score political points”. “On our side, we are certainly not going to play his game, reacts the Prime Minister's Office in an exchange with Metro. In the past, these meetings allowed us to have a good collaboration with the oppositions, in particular with his predecessor Pierre Arcand”.

“It’s a pity that this is no longer the case, we continue. We will continue to be transparent and provide the opinions and information behind the decisions made by the government and Public Health.”

The councilor of Ensemble Montreal in Ville-Marie, Serge Sasseville, s’ is on the side of Mrs. Anglade. According to him, the meetings that elected municipal officials have every Monday with the minister responsible for the Metropolis, Chantal Rouleau, take place with many interruptions.

“They try to cut us off as soon as our interventions challenge the government's measures,” he said on Twitter.

Participation supported

The other opposition parties invited to the meetings will continue to participate. Solidarity Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois also took the opportunity to throw an arrow at Dominique Anglade, recalling that “the management of the pandemic is not a spectacle to attract attention”.

“I will continue to use every opportunity, in public and in private, to question the PM and seek answers. It’s our job,” he tweeted.

The Parti Québécois rather sympathized with the Liberals on the question, admitting that the weekly meetings with François Legault were a “simulacrum”. “I understand Dominique Anglade's frustrations, but I will go back to reiterate the demands of the Parti Québécois.”

The Parti Québécois wants the government and Health public communicate independently, in particular by organizing separate press briefings.