Anglade’s resignation a sad end for a leader with wasted potential

KAMOURASKA, QUE.—Dominique, we hardy knew ye. Dominique Anglade’s political obituary is being written after she resigned as the Quebec Liberal leader on Nov. 7, a month after the provincial election and 30 months after being acclaimed leader in 2020. Anglade will go down in history as the first woman of colour to lead her party, but also the Quebec Liberal leader with the lowest seat total and the shortest tenure since the party was founded in the 19th century. The writing was on the wall in the last couple of weeks; first, when she booted MNA Marie-Claude Nichols from the caucus and then asked her to come back. This was followed by the scourge of any leadership when “unnamed sources” started calling for Anglade’s resignation. In July of 2020 I had the chance to interview her for this column. She seemed personable, knowledgeable, even charismatic. When I said there were a lot of expectations being thrust upon her to be a role model for women, she said: “I take this role with a lot of responsibility. I have always felt the pressure to deliver results.” And yet, after a tenure filled with missteps and electoral disaster, her departure was inevitable. Her first mistake may have been in listening to her advisers, who were trying to plot a course between the nationalist Coalition Avenir Québec of Premier François Legault, the nationalist Parti Québécois, and the nationalist (and leftist) Québec Solidaire. Astonishingly, they recommended the Liberal Party become more nationalist. Then they recommended pushing the environment. Québec Solidaire Leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois skewered the Liberals when he said, “There was the nationalist pivot, the progressive pivot, the green pivot, they are great slogans … but no poll can replace convictions.” Then the party drafted its “27 principles” on language, which could have been written by the Parti Québécois. One principle was the infamous recommendation to force anglophone CEGEP students to take three “core” courses in French. The CAQ gleefully added it to Bill 96, the radical revision of the Charter of the French Language. The Liberals voted for the bill in first and second reading, and it was only an 11th hour change of heart that led to Liberal opposition, which it rode to victory in Anglo ridings. In 2004, former leader Claude Ryan wrote a 90-page analysis of the Quebec Liberal Party’s policy strengths. “Liberal Values in Contemporary Quebec” concluded the party historically succeeded because it emphasized the economy, federalism, and human rights. In contrast, Anglade was lukewarm in her opposition to Bill 21, the secularism law; only opposed Bill 96 when it put her electoral fortunes at risk; sought greater autonomy; and emphasized the environment over the economy. At the beginning of the election, Legault referred to Anglade as “that woman.” It should have been enough to create a massive backlash among female voters. Instead, Legault apologized, and the moment was lost. And then there was her gender and colour. My late brother told me a story of campaigning years ago for the NDP’s Rosemary Brown in Vancouver. When progressive voters came to the door, they were thrilled to vote for a Black woman. In Quebec’s rural regions, both those attributes were a handicap for Anglade. As a person, Anglade is an accomplished engineer with a global background, who lives in wealthy, anglophone upper Westmount. At home, she speaks French, English, and German. If her advisers had let “Dominique be Dominique,” voters might have seen a brilliant, feisty woman with a visceral grasp of the minority experience, willing to slug it out with her opponents. That person came to the fore in the second debate, but it was too late. Now the search begins. André Fortin, the personable MNA from Pontiac, is said to have the inside track. While old warhorses like Benoît Pelletier will call for a more nationalist party, the next leader must be genuine, a strong federalist, and can’t equivocate on the economy. Many moderate Quebecers are tired of the perpetual screed of nationalist grievances, as if all Quebec’s problems can be blamed on Ottawa or English colonialism in the 18th century. A modern Quebec must look to the future in a complicated and dangerous world. The formula is there. Dominique Anglade ignored it. The next leader should embrace it. Andrew Caddell is retired from Global Affairs Canada, where he was a senior policy adviser. He previously worked as an adviser to Liberal governments. He is a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and a town councillor in Kamouraska, Que. He can be reached at pipson52@hotmail.com. The Hill Times