All may not have been said about the federal fiasco regarding the issuance of passports.

Gross incompetence? Obviously. But let's broaden the perspective a bit.

In Le Journal d'hier, we report the case of a pre-retiree from Laval who has been waiting for the review of his application for employment insurance benefits since April 3.

They are tens of thousands like him.

See how the arrival of travelers is managed, treated like cattle, at airports under federal jurisdiction.

See the incredible mess of the Phoenix system to manage the payroll of federal civil servants.

They are tens of thousands to have received too much, or not enough, or nothing at all.

See Roxham Road.

Distance

What do these federal boondoggles have in common, other than of course illustrating mind-blowing incompetence?

Two things.

These are blunders in areas that directly affect the concrete lives of human beings.

These are boondoggles to which those in charge react in an amorphous, robotic, indolent way, without the slightest sense of urgency, as if, deep down, they are being disturbed, as if they are busy with much more important things.

The federal government is responsible for areas that are crucial, but often far removed from the concrete life of the majority: defence, foreign affairs, banking institutions, etc.

When the federal bureaucracy interferes with everyday life, it is bad, distant, disconnected.

Provincial governments are responsible for what affects us the most in everyday life: school, hospital, daycare, etc.

I do not claim for a minute that the provincial government manages better.

Don't waste my time with a long list of persistent problems in services for which the Government of Quebec is responsible.

I say something else.

I say that the fundamental difference is that the responsible provincial minister is close to us, we know him, he will be quickly put on the spot, will not be able to escape, will be hounded, will have to answer, will have to at least show concern... and will end up being knocked out if things get too bad.

Honestly, had you ever heard of Karina Gould, the federal minister responsible for passports, before the last few days?

What I'm trying to say is that, while there is certainly incompetence in the Government of Quebec, there is not this feeling of estrangement, of lazy indifference, of hovering far above ordinary people , to live on another planet that coats the federal public service.

Paternalism

This difference is embodied by the contrast between the proximity of a François Legault, with his qualities and his faults, and the Saturnian distance of a Justin Trudeau, still in Davos, at the G7, traveling around the world, while the people here are raging in frustration.

What adds insult to injury is this federal automatism which consists in implying that it knows so much better than the provinces how to do things that it must closely supervise them, like an adult watching over a child.