Why a 'love story' with Mark Carney is François Legault's only hope
OTTAWA — Quebec Premier François Legault was on fire last weekend.
Article content
The man who is clearly and unequivocally the most unpopular premier in Canada, according to the latest Angus Reid poll, stood before the future of his party, the members of the youth wing of the Coalition Avenir Québec, smiling and ready to fight.
Article content
'I want to fight more than ever! For a third term, to finish the job!' he roared. 'I need you to continue building Quebec for future generations,' he added.
Article content
But the polls suggest that the fight seems lost for Legault, known for years as the country's most beloved premier. And for the man who has made a punching bag of the federal Liberal government, it's a cruel twist of fate that Prime Minister Mark Carney may be the only person who can save the Quebec premier.
Article content
Article content
With nearly a year to go until the election, the man who won one of the largest majorities in Quebec's history, with 90 out of 125 seats, is facing a massacre. According to the latest Angus Reid report, only a quarter of Quebecers approve of his performance. In March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, his approval rating was 77 per cent.
Article content
'Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the CAQ wins zero seat in next year's election,' said a CAQ insider that was granted anonymity to speak more freely out of fear of repercussions.
Article content
The man behind the poll aggregator Qc125.com, Philippe J. Fournier, is almost convinced that if there were an election today, the CAQ would not have party status.
Article content
Article content
'Currently, Mr. Legault is in a situation that is similar or even perhaps a little worse than (then prime minister) Justin Trudeau in December,' he told National Post.
Article content
Article content
His government has faced numerous controversies over the past two and a half years. Right now, he is being hit on all fronts for his government mismanagement in the health, energy, transport and finances files.
Article content
The public, it seems, has simply had enough of this government and no longer trusts it.
Article content
Legault sees things differently and presents himself as the nationalist and economic candidate. But the road ahead isn't smooth.
Article content
On the one hand, the separatist Parti Québécois has comfortably taken the lead and is garnering all the attention with a leader who remains perfectly clear about his intentions during the first mandate of a PQ government. Yes, this is a referendum on Quebec independence.
Article content
With a popular leader leading the way among francophones, with a similar margin to that of federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre a year ago, the PQ has now brought the separatists back home after a decade of desertion.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Prime Minister Carney in Brussels today for EU-Canada summit
Prime Minister Mark Carney and wife Diana Fox Carney arrive in Brussels, Belgium on Sunday, June 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick BRUSSELS — Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Belgium today, where he visited a military cemetery before meeting with European Union leaders at an EU-Canada summit. Carney said on social media Sunday that he was in Brussels to launch 'a new era of partnership' between Canada and the European Union for the benefit of workers, businesses and security 'on both sides of the Atlantic.' Carney started the day with a visit to the Antwerp Schoonselhof Military Cemetery where 348 Canadian soldiers are buried. Carney toured the cemetery alongside his wife, Diana Fox Carney, and Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever. Carney also took part in a wreath-laying ceremony. Foreign affairs minister Anita Anand, national defence minister David McGuinty and Special Envoy to the European Union and Europe Stéphane Dion were also at the event. Later, he is expected to meet with De Wever, European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Carney posted on social media early on Monday that he spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump overnight, noting the conversation addressed the need to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East, their shared commitment of a stronger NATO and progress in ongoing trade talks between Canada and the United States. At the EU-Canada summit, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Defence Minister David McGuinty are expected to sign a security and defence agreement with the European bloc in what one European official described last week as one of the most ambitious deals the continent's powers have ever signed with a third country. The security and defence agreement aims to open the door to Canada's participation in the joint purchase of weapons with European countries. It will also lead to Canada's participation in the ReArm Europe initiative, allowing Canada to access a 150-billion-euro program for defence procurement, called Security Action for Europe. Canada will need to sign a second agreement with the European Commission before it can take part in the program. A government official briefing reporters on the trip said the partnership is expected to make procurement easier and more affordable, while also allowing Canada to diversify the sources of equipment. At the EU-Canada summit, leaders are also expected to issue a joint statement to underscore a willingness for continued pressure on Russia to end its war on Ukraine, including through further sanctions, and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The joint statement is also expected to touch on climate change, trade and digital and tech policy. Speaking to reporters Monday, De Wever said Canada's partnership with the EU is important because 'we've woken up in a world that doesn't look that friendly anymore.' 'We're living in a world where we have an imperialist power in the east who uses military force, we have a peculiar figure in the White House who is choosing the road of protectionism and even isolationism, so those who like a rules-based world, a multilateral world, should find each other's company now,' the Belgian prime minister said. De Wever said countries will need to spend more on defense and should do so wisely by developing their industrial defense base together. 'Those countries who still like multilateralism are the countries that have to look up each other's company and make good agreements,' he said. Leaders at the EU-Canada summit are also slated to discuss global trade and commit to working toward full ratification and implementation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the Canada-Europe free trade deal known as CETA. The pact took effect provisionally in 2017, and most of its contents now apply. But all EU countries need to approve CETA before it can take full effect, with 10 members still left to ratify the deal. Carney, Costa and von der Leyen are scheduled to hold a joint press conference in the evening. On Tuesday, Carney travels to The Hague for the NATO summit. The international meetings come as Canada looks to reduce its defence procurement reliance on the United States due to strained relations over tariffs and U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated talk about Canada becoming a U.S. state. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2025. Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Tech leaders ready launch of Canadian social-media platform Gander to buck U.S. dominance
A new social-media platform built by Canadians, for Canadians, and operated in Canada, will publicly launch in October with support from some of the most prominent names in the Canadian innovation sector. Titled Gander Social Inc., the app was created by five Canadian co-founders who grew frustrated with the torrent of trolls, disinformation and divisive content they experienced on other platforms, largely owned by American tech giants. When Donald Trump was elected president for a second term, co-founder and CEO Ben Waldman said this frustration morphed into fear, as conversations around data sovereignty – ensuring Canadian control over access, usage and storage – became more pervasive. 'What it came down to was the fear that, without firing a shot, we could easily be annexed by Trump issuing an executive order that all of his friends would immediately adhere to and shut down all of the cloud services that we use every day in business and government, and we would just simply be offline,' he said. 'And that was a scary moment.' Gander will feature written posts and videos, giving users the choice to tailor their feed to the types of content they most enjoy. Just like the social-media platform Bluesky, Gander is built on AT Protocol, which means it's part of an open, decentralized network and not controlled by a billionaire. To ensure data sovereignty for Canadian users, Mr. Waldman said Gander is working with Canadian cloud-service provider ThinkOn to build a parallel network of servers entirely in Canada. Therefore, users will have the option to toggle between having their posts appear on the larger, open network or the Canada-only network. This will also enable Gander on the domestic network to control its own privacy and moderation rules, which will adhere to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Changing U.S. relationship has thrust Canada's data sovereignty into the spotlight With the rise of dad influencers, a more equal version of parenting goes viral Among the app's strategic advisers and investors is Arlene Dickinson, Dragon's Den star and founder and general partner at District Capital Ventures. Ms. Dickinson said she reached out to the platform's founders earlier this year after seeing something about it online. She thought it was a smart, timely idea, given the deterioration of safe, online spaces and growing emphasis on data sovereignty. The world doesn't need another social-media platform, she said, but it could stand to replace some of the ones it already has. This is where Gander comes in, with its Canadian approach, she said. 'My belief is that people will come to this network, to see if it's as different as we can build it to be, and they will stay because it is,' Ms. Dickinson said. The parallel, local network design is also what makes Gander a feasible business model, Ms. Dickinson said, because it can translate this model to other countries or communities who want to set up their own sovereign network. Providing the option to switch off of the larger, decentralized network may be contentious among some users, Mr. Waldman said, since it creates a closed door in an otherwise open space. But he said it comes down to protecting Canadians. 'At the end of the day, when your President isn't exactly being the nicest to us, we have to be in a position where we can communicate, hopefully, in the event of something going wrong,' he said. Other strategic advisers include Blaine Cook, an original Twitter architect; Taylor Owen, director at McGill's Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy; Peter Dinsdale, CEO of YMCA Canada and former CEO of the Assembly of First Nations; and Amber Mac, a Canadian tech journalist and media personality. Ms. Mac said Gander's dedication to verification and moderation will be key in avoiding the steady decline that other online platforms have succumbed to. How underground brokers use their connections inside Meta to profit from hacked accounts 'In the age of social media, it's difficult to compete against some of the forces online that pollute our online spaces. But I don't think it's impossible,' she said. To ensure Gander is solely humans interacting with humans, Mr. Waldman said they're considering working with Toronto-based digital ID verifier GoConfirm to check users' identities upon signing up. Since opening Gander's early access program in April, Mr. Waldman said more than 9,000 people have signed up, giving them benefits such as username priority and the chance to participate in beta testing. At launch, the app will be available in French, English and three Indigenous languages. Mr. Waldman said Gander's monetization models are still being fine-tuned, but he expects subscription plans for content creators and small businesses, and ads to be a part of the company's strategy. However, he said if ads are included on the platform, it will be done mindfully and in a way that allows users to opt in to what they see. For example, they might choose to see ads about their favourite band's coming shows. 'It's all exploratory. Right now, we're just happy to get a platform up that makes people feel better.'
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Nova Scotia Power to challenge $10M penalty at public hearing
Two years after the Nova Scotia government slapped Nova Scotia Power with a $10-million fine for failing to meet renewable energy targets, the utility is poised to argue in a public hearing that it shouldn't have to pay. Lawyers for Nova Scotia Power will appear before the Nova Scotia Energy Board this week in a hearing that's expected to last several days. They'll try to convince the board that the utility should not be punished for missing the legislated target because it did all it could to meet it. In a pre-hearing submission made to the board, Nova Scotia Power described the decision to apply a fine as "flawed" and "illogical." The utility is asking the board to overturn the penalty entirely or to have the fine reduced. Nova Scotia Power fell 8 points short Nova Scotia Power was supposed to be generating 40 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. When it missed that deadline because of delays to the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric dam in Labrador, the province granted some leeway, creating an "alternative compliance plan." Under the new plan, Nova Scotia Power was to deliver a three-year average of 40 per cent renewables by the end of 2022. But as the deadline approached, the utility conceded that it would again fall short. It achieved an average of about 32 per cent renewable energy from 2020 to 2022. Again, it blamed the problem-plagued Muskrat Falls project. Nova Scotia Power is arguing that even though it didn't meet the target, the penalty was not warranted because it did its due diligence and "honestly believed" energy from Muskrat Falls would be flowing to Nova Scotia in time. Both of those are listed as acceptable defences in the province's electricity regulations. Energy from Muskrat Falls started flowing to Nova Scotia before the end of 2022, but it wasn't enough to meet the modified target. Nova Scotia Power said there was no time to pivot to other renewable energy sources to make up the shortfall, noting that new wind projects take about five years to bring into operation, and importing hydro through New Brunswick would have been impractical "even if cost were not a consideration." "Unfortunately, it was a race against time and NS Power did not quite get to the finish line," the company said. The province chose the maximum allowable fine under the law, but Nova Scotia Power says the fine "is grossly disproportionate and without any justification" since it came close to meeting the 40 per cent target. The regulations prohibit the utility from recovering the penalty through rates. In other words, Nova Scotia Power customers can't be put on the hook for the $10 million. The cost would ultimately fall to shareholders of Emera, Nova Scotia Power's parent company. Province 'cannot trust' NSP A pre-hearing submission made on behalf of Nova Scotia's energy minister defends issuing the penalty and says it's the only mechanism available for encouraging compliance. "[The minister of energy] cannot trust that NS Power will meet future [renewable energy standard] obligations, or, more critically, its sustainability standards legislated for 2030." The submission questions whether Nova Scotia Power exercised due diligence in trying to hit the target. It says "there were options" the utility could have explored to mitigate the Muskrat Falls shortfall. Nova Scotia is asking the board to uphold the penalty, or put it back in the hands of the energy minister to reconsider the amount. Challenges of renewable transition The penalty is just one example of how the transition to more renewable energy has been challenging for Nova Scotia Power. The utility had to scramble to buy alternate fuels because of the Muskrat Falls delays, and the price was much higher than the hydro electricity would have been. Nova Scotia Power eventually secured a federal bailout to avoid a massive rate hike for customers. Nova Scotia has more renewable energy targets coming up, which also come with the risk of penalties. Nova Scotia Power is supposed to get off coal and hit 80 per cent renewable energy by 2030. The energy board has called the timeline "very tight." Adam Fremeth, an associate professor of business, economics and public policy at Western University, said the renewable transition is proving difficult for other jurisdictions, too. He said more hiccups should be expected. "The energy transition is not a linear process," he said. "It's up and down, there's obstacles that are … going to come in the way. Some are going to be technical, some of them are just going to be the nature of such a large change in a major industry." Fremeth, who specializes in the study of energy policy, said penalties for utilities that fail to hit renewable targets are common across North America. But, he added, many other jurisdictions have more clarity in their rules than Nova Scotia. He said he hopes the dispute between Nova Scotia Power and the provincial government leads to updates of Nova Scotia's renewable electricity regulations. "I think that type of development would be a positive turn for this," he said.
