The outgoing premier ran as a candidate who would not cause major upheavals. His tenure proved to be the exact opposite

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MONTREAL — This week, Quebec Premier François Legault announced his resignation ahead of the province’s October election, because he knows that voters want a new premier, and he wants them to cast their ballots based on economic and language issues.

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While not unpopular among the majority of Quebecers, Legault’s Bill 96 language reforms were highly divisive, not only among anglophones, but also allophones who understand the value of bilingualism, not just for themselves, but for their children.

Legault’s decision to take a walk in the snow follows a recent Pallas poll, which found that three-quarters of Quebecers now view him unfavourably.

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Legault was a former Parti Québécois cabinet minister and businessman (he co-founded Air Transat). For years, the Quebec premiership alternated between the Liberals and the PQ — the former had a history of defending Anglo rights, while the latter focused on Quebec sovereignty.

Legault decided to start his own party in 2011 called the Coalition Avenir Québec and merged with Action démocratique du Québec shortly afterwards.

The move was genius. Legault understood that the mere suggestion of a referendum always sent votes to his former political adversaries, the Liberals. So he fashioned the CAQ as a centre-right party that wouldn’t argue for sovereignty or federalism. Instead, his first

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