Legault resignation leaves uncertainty
Mohawk Council of Kahnawake grand chief Cody Diabo (left) with outgoing Quebec premier François Legault at the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the provincial government and Kahnawake in late 2024. File photo
After months of his party trailing in the polls, Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) leader François Legault announced his resignation this Wednesday, a move that Mohawk Council of Kahnawake grand chief Cody Diabo said leaves questions for the future of the community’s relationship with the provincial government.
Though the CAQ have been falling in the polls for some time, Legault’s resignation came as a shock to many, just weeks after the resignation of the government’s health minister, Christian Dubé.
For Diabo, the writing had been on the wall for some time, and news of the resignation triggered a feeling of deja vu, reminding him of former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation a little over a year ago.
“You’re going down in the polls, and so what are you going to do for the party’s future? Is it the party, or is it the leader of the party that you need to swap out?” Diabo said. “They were pretty much on the verge of practically not being a party anymore from the polls. So, he had to swap out if they want to make sure that their party has a future.”
Legault, a former Parti Quebecois member of the national assembly (MNA), founded the CAQ in 2011, leading the centre-right party through two majority mandates, having first been elected as premier in 2018.
Under his leadership, the CAQ became a major political force in the province after decades of dominance by the Parti Quebecois and the Quebec Liberals.
His legacy is marked by his focus on restricting immigration and strengthening French language laws, with Bill 96, now known as Law 14, being one of the most controversial bills passed by his government. Under that legislation, businesses, governments, and educational institutions are subject to intensified language regulations, something that many in Kahnawake have protested throughout the years.
Diabo said that he has at times been hopeful about the community’s relationship with Legault, but that he’s ultimately been disappointed by his leadership.
At the end of 2024, he had hoped that the signing of a historic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Legault could signal a change going forward. Back then, Ian Lafrenière, Legault’s minister for Indigenous relations, had called the signing of the agreement the “beginning of a good relationship” that “means a lot” to the provincial government.
“We’d hoped for the starting of a relationship with signing that MOU, and that’s not to say that individuals in the Quebec government haven’t tried to uphold that MOU, so I do have to give credit,” he said. “But there’s concerns I have with this now about where it puts the work that we’ve already been doing.”
One of Diabo’s major concerns is ongoing discussions about the return of a 211-acre land debt to Kahnawake – he said negotiations were very close to completion concerning a 180-acre parcel of land not far from Kahnawake.
“I’m hoping that can still happen,” he said.
In a speech announcing his resignation on Wednesday morning, Legault acknowledged that many were calling for a change in premier and said he is stepping down for “the good of my party, and especially for the good of Quebec,” adding that an election can now focus on the issues.
He said he will be staying in office until the CAQ elects a new leader.
He did not address any topics related to Indigenous communities in his speech, instead reflecting on his government’s role in health, cost of living, and the French language, pointing to “the explosion in the number of temporary immigrants” as something that has “accelerated the decline of French.”
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“Quebecers need to be much more vigilant about the future of their nation and the future of French,” he said.
“We should not be ashamed of protecting our language, our culture, and our values. Let us be proud as Quebecers, let us be proud of our nation.”
It remains to be seen whether the CAQ can recover as a party before the provincial election in just under nine months, and Diabo said that the MCK would continue to monitor the situation as a new leader is chosen.
