1 mai 2024
Post-budget update of the Legault 2.0 Polimeter
After its second budget, what is the record of François Legault’s CAQ government? Has it succeeded in keeping a greater proportion of its electoral promises than during its first mandate? The Centre for Public Policy Analysis (CAPP) of Université Laval’s Faculty of Social Sciences unveils the results of the post-budget update of the Legault 2.0 Polimeter.
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In April 2024, the Polimeter team’s verdicts show that the CAQ government has managed to deliver fully on 23% of its 150 promises, while 20% are partially fulfilled, 33% are in progress, 19% are not yet rated, and 5% are broken.
According to the Polimeter team, the biggest surprise in this post-budget update is the lack of recent progress towards fulfilling promises. “Despite a fast start compared to its first mandate, the CAQ government seems to have slowed its pace towards realizing its electoral promises,” mentions Lisa Birch, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Université Laval and Executive Director of CAPP.
“The inflationary economic context and the increase in the deficit to $11 billion seem to be influencing this government’s choices,” she concludes. The CAQ government’s second budget focuses on abandoning projects that have become too costly and improving the efficiency of government and state-owned corporations to return gradually to a balanced budget, rather than imposing fiscal austerity or raising taxes.
“After 550 days in power, the CAQ has far surpassed the fulfillment rate of its promises in its first mandate, with 43% of promises fulfilled or partially fulfilled compared to 28% in its first mandate,” notes Alexandre Fortier-Chouinard, data scientist and researcher at the CAPP. However, considering the number of promises (150 for the second mandate and 251 for the first), this government has fulfilled fully or partially seven fewer promises than in its first mandate at this stage. It has broken 7 promises (5%), compared with 8 (3%) in its first term.
“The Legault government has kept promises such as tax cuts and investments in job training. More recently, by asking for more powers in immigration, despite the federal government’s refusal, it kept an additional promise. This promise committed the government to asking for – not obtaining – new powers in its platform in 2022,” says the researcher. “However, the ‘Espaces bleus,’ a flagship promise of the Legault government on culture, have been abandoned and constitute a new broken promise. The government justifies the abandonment of this promise, among other reasons, by the explosion in construction costs.”
This government has just over two years to fulfill its outstanding and pending promises. “There is still plenty of time for the government to act,” says Alexandre Fortier-Chouinard. The Polimeter team will continue to monitor the fulfillment of promises until the next election, scheduled for October 5, 2026, offering citizens user-friendly access to transparent and reliable political information.
The Polimeter team also invites citizens to explore its web application, which tracks the progress of promise fulfillment throughout government mandates. They will find relevant information on the status of each promise for both CAQ governments, as well as other past governments. The results, as well as information on the methodology, are available there.
For information and interviews:
Lisa Birch, Researcher and Adjunct Professor
Centre for Public Policy Analysis (CAPP)
Department of Political Science
Faculty of Social Sciences
Université Laval
418 609-3920
Lisa-Maureen.Birch@capp.ulaval.ca
polimetre@capp.ulaval.ca
Source :
Communications Department
Université Laval
418 656-3355
medias@ulaval.ca
