This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

161609Z Mar 06

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 QUEBEC 000034 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  3/16/2016 
TAGS: PGOV ECON CA
SUBJECT: CHAREST THRONE SPEECH GIVES NO LIFT TO HIS GOVERNMENT 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Abigail Friedman, Consul General, Quebec City, 
State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  Quebec Premier Jean Charest kicked off a new 
session at the National Assembly March 14 with a 90 minute 
Throne Speech (the first since he took office in 2003) that set 
the tone for the looming electoral campaign.  Charest's main 
focus for the coming year will be the reduction of the 
province's debt load, health and education, energy, the 
environment, and improved federal-provincial relations. 
Charest's new energy policy, to be unveiled in full in the 
coming weeks, includes an increase in the production and 
development of hydroelectric power and, mot importantly, a 
commitment to raise exports both to the U.S. and the rest of 
Canada.  Most here, including the opposition, agree with the 
policy direction outlined by the Premier.  The real problem for 
Charest is the overwhelming lack of public confidence in his 
leadership.  Charest's speech coincides with a new poll 
suggesting the PQ would effortlessly beat the Liberals in an 
election 43-32%.  This does not mean that a yearning for 
sovereignty is on the rise -- indeed, that has ebbed since the 
advent of the Harper government - but rather that, as witnessed 
across Canada in the January federal election, the mood here is 
for change.   End Summary. 
¶2.  (U) In his address inaugurating the 37th   legislature, 
Premier Charest vowed foremost to control the provincial debt 
that presently rests at CDN $117 billion and whose interest 
alone reaches $7.5 billion annually -- the third most important 
provincial budgetary expenditure after health and education. To 
do so, the GOQ will create a new "Fund for the Generations," to 
be laid out in the provincial budget to be tabled March 23, and 
whose sole objective will be to slash the debt.  Charest 
promised that debt reduction would not be at the expense of the 
health system nor increase Quebeckers' tax burden.  Among some 
of the other initiatives the Premier said his government will 
rollout over the coming months: 
-- a new energy strategy centering on hydroelectricity and wind 
power 
-- public hearings on long term public financing of the health 
system 
-- electoral reform to introduce proportional vote 
-- a new international affairs policy to strengthen Quebec's 
role abroad 
-- changes to the Code of  Professions to recognize foreign 
degrees and allow more immigrants to work in the province 
 
¶3.  (U) The province's much anticipated energy policy will be 
tabled in the weeks ahead by Natural Resources Minister Pierre 
Corbeil and will drive Quebec's sustainable development efforts 
over the next 10 years.  Charest said the plan will involve all 
forms of energy sources making Quebec the North-American leader 
in clean, renewable energies.  He promised a new commitment 
toward hydroelectric production and development with the 
completion of projects at Mercier, Eastmain 1, Peribonka, 
Rapide-des-Coeurs, and Chutes Allard, supplying an extra 1000 MW 
of electricity to the grid, and the construction of the Eastmain 
1-A/Rupert site that will add another 900 MW.   Increased wind 
power development throughout the province will also bring in 
another 3500 MW.   Quebec's ultimate goal is to be able export 
power to the U.S. and to neighboring Canadian provinces all year 
round. 
 
¶4.  (U) Following Charest's speech, PQ chief Andre Boisclair 
told the media he was unimpressed with the Liberal leader's 
"long and boring" speech.  Charest's main problem, Boisclair 
scoffed, is his "deficit of credibility."  The PQ leader agreed 
that creating a deficit fund is a "reasonable proposal," and 
noted that he himself made a similar pitch during the recent PQ 
party leadership race.  But Charest has been in office for three 
years and has failed to deliver on a host of promises, including 
lowering taxes.  Responding to Charest's criticism of the PQ 
desire for another referendum, Boisclair reiterated his 
commitment to holding a third popular vote on the sovereignty 
option.  Right-of-center ADQ leader Mario Dumont, for his part, 
said Charest's inaugural speech sounded like "a commercial to 
sell a product that everyone knows is defective....  We saw a 
weak Premier at work, with tired ideas, and afraid of change." 
 
¶5. (SBU) Newspaper editorials the following day by and large 
came to the same conclusion as the opposition, although with a 
softer touch.  Most media outlets concurred that the Premier's 
speech sets the right course for Quebec, but wondered whether 
the Charest government's penchant for mishandling local issues 
-- most recently, the GOQ's decision to sell to developers a 
portion of a provincial park - would undermine his ability to 
move forward with his agenda.  We are hearing the same doubts 
expressed by members of Charest's own party.   A fresh poll 
published March 15 in the Journal de Quebec/Montreal shows the 
Liberals trailing 11 percentage points behind the Parti 
Quebecois.  The PQ received 43 per cent support, compared with 
32 per cent for the Liberals, 11 per cent for the ADQ and six 
per cent for the new left-wing Quebec Solidaire party. 
 
Comment 
----------- 
¶6.  (C) Public opposition to Premier Charest's leadership 
continues to hover at around seventy percent.  The lift he 
obtained from the election of the Harper government vanished 
with the GOQ's controversial announcement of the sale to 
developers of large tracts of Mont Orford provincial park. 
Judging by the comments of our contacts and the media, the 
Throne speech, while welcomed on substance, does not seem to 
have turned things around for Charest.  His strongest card - and 
one that he is already playing - is to put the focus on the PQ, 
which continues to tout a sovereignty referendum that few seem 
interested in ("It's like going to the dentist," one politician 
told us).  But that, in itself, may not be enough to save 
Charest, as Quebeckers over the years have gotten used to voting 
in the PQ, and then voting against a referendum. 
FRIEDMAN