NLP-POL · Political Discourse Analysis

François Legault Resigns

NLP analysis of Quebec's Prime Minister resignation speech

January 14, 2026

Antoine Lemor | NLP-POL PROJECT ↗

What is NLP-POL?

An open source project applying NLP to political discourse analysis

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Goal

Demonstrate the possibilities of NLP methods applied to political discourse study

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Tools

Transcribe-tool ↗ + LLM_Tool ↗

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Frequency

Regular analyses published on my blog ↗

Methodology ↓

Methodology

Sentence-by-sentence annotation with LLM

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Data

François Legault's resignation speech (January 7, 2025)

122

sentences

Click to see excerpts

10

dimensions

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235

actors

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93

justifications

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Interactive Dashboard

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Key finding

A political legacy speech more than a resignation, centered on party politics: pride in achievements, defense of CAQ record, gratitude to teams

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Theme

24

party politics

24 mentions · top domain

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Click to see analysis →

Actors

+0.93

positive

149 positive · 5 negative

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Nationalism

16%

present

Quebec identity · 19/122

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Key finding

72%

of the speech dedicated to political legacy

It's not nothing, building a party and then governing for 6 and a half years.

François Legault explains less than he defends. Party before public policy.

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Speech at a glance

The speech at a glance

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Sentence-by-Sentence Emotional Evolution

Positive

Neutral

Negative

Hover Hover over the chart to see each sentence with its tone, speech act and theme

Analysis #1

Which policy themes dominate?

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Policy themes

24

mentions of party politics

I want to thank those who embarked on this great adventure of creating a new party with me.

Party before public policy.

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Explore policy themes

Click a sector to discover associated sentences

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Try it Click a sunbeam to reveal all sentences

Policy themes

102 mentions

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Select a theme

All sentences

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Analysis #2

What is the balance of justifications?

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Justification balance

94%

of justifications defending the record

We worked hard, we did many beautiful things together.

François Legault explains less than he defends. Party before public policy.

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Justification Strategies

How Legault justifies his decision and record

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Does he focus on resignation reasons or his record?

0

Resignation Record

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Quotes

Analysis #3

How are actors portrayed?

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Actor sentiment

+0.93

actor sentiment index

Thank you to so many people. I want to thank Brigitte, Stéphane, Claude, Lynn, Nicole, Pascal, Charles, Mario...

Little sadness or regret expressed. A speech of thanks rather than political analysis or contrition.

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Sentiment towards actors

Click on an actor to discover the sentences where they are mentioned

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Sentiment index

0.00

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Positive

Neutral

Negative

Analysis #4

What place for Quebec identity?

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Quebec identity

16%

of the speech on identity

We must also stop the decline of French. Particularly in Montreal, the future of our nation is at stake.

Identity is present but secondary to party politics.

Identity Themes

Click a flow to see associated sentences

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Identity proportion

0%

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Themes

Stances

Quotes

Analysis #5

What rhetorical strategy?

Dominant speech act

51

justifications (26.4%)

"I tried to reduce the wealth gap between Quebec and the rest of Canada."

Justifying (51), claiming (35), praising (22). Defending his record is the speech's primary function.

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Rhetorical Strategy

Click on a speech act or political legacy framing to discover the associated sentences

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Dominant act

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Speech Acts

Political Legacy Framing

Quotes

Conclusion

A political legacy speech

Quantitative analysis shows a political legacy speech rather than a resignation. François Legault defends his heritage and political partners, and above all protects the image and political legacy of the CAQ. A departure explanation tied to the party whose theme is dominant, little self-criticism or analysis of failures.

+0.33

Tone

24

Party politics

72%

Pol. Legacy

+0.93

Actors

16%

Nationalism

Resources

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nlp-pol Code & data ↗

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LLM_Tool Annotation ↗

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Blog More analyses ↗

Antoine Lemor · Everything is open source (and open to criticism). That's science.

François Legault Resigns

What is NLP-POL?

Goal

Tools

Frequency

Methodology

Transcription

LLM Annotation

Python Analysis

Data

Interactive Dashboard

The speech at a glance

Which policy themes dominate?

Explore policy themes

What is the balance of justifications?

Justification Strategies

How are actors portrayed?

Sentiment towards actors

What place for Quebec identity?

Identity Themes

What rhetorical strategy?

Rhetorical Strategy

A political legacy speech

Resources