Québec: Policy implementation and the cry of a Jewish prophet

Dear Mister Prime Minister,

As a fellow Québécois and Montréalais, I want to congratulate you on your election. I want to assure you that our church will be praying for you.

You are well aware that “all politics are local” and no more so than in this recent election. There was no impact from Premier Legault’s impassioned plea for Québec to vote for the Progressive Conservative Party because you Liberals are “dangerous.” (He certainly sounded a lot like Maurice Duplessis – the chief and the local priest telling us how to vote. My neighbours do not like being told how to vote.)

No, all politics are local because Québecers want better policy implementation on climate change, gun control, continuing reconciliation with our Indigenous populations, and child care. People are deeply grateful for how your minority government did what governments are supposed to do during a crisis. Guiding the economy out of pandemic spending will not be easy, nor should it be rushed. That is important. You have done a masterful job on working with the Québec government to appropriate enough vaccines and to get them into peoples’ arms. Those are the issues that matter most to my neighbours.

In 2015, you succeeded in communicating a vision for the role of Québec in Canada as the “sunny days” articulated by our first French-Canadian Prime Minister – Sir Wilfred Laurier. That humble, clear vision with cooperative partnership across the land is needed more than ever because of the shared suffering we are all experiencing. Mister Prime Minister, it seems to me that you squandered an immense amount of the acquired goodwill of Québécois by precipitously calling this election. But your minority government admirably managed the largest crisis in our recent history, though not without mistakes. It seems to me as a Christian that the famous Jewish prophet Micah put it best for all of us right now – do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.

Read other letters to the Prime Minister here: Ontario, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Alberta.