A Fall Election? A Provincial One in Quebec, That Is

If Pauline Marois has her way we could well be going to the polls come as soon as this Fall, or maybe even late this summer.

Yes, Jean Charest has a majority and has until 2013 to call an election.  However, after ousting Tony Tomassi and the potential for more to go either voluntarily or not could well turn his majority into a minority.  He has 66 seats now, but Agriculture minister, Claude Bechard is away, undergoing cancer treatments and the speaker, Yvon Vallieres, of course, can’t vote, bringing him down to 64. PQ and ADQ together have 58 seats. Although, I’m curious as to why they never counted the one seat held by Quebec Solidaire and the two independents held by former ADQ MNAs and currently, there are two vacant seats (including the one of Tony Tomassi)  out of 125 seats in the National Assembly.  Does this mean Marois has made some kind of  deal with the remaining ADQ MNAs? Between that and kicking the SPQ, the Parti Quebecois’s left wing recently, one has to wonder which way she is steering the party.

More and more news stories are coming in and honestly, it begs the question, why is Marois in such a hurry? Conventional wisdom would dictate she further prove herself to be premier material. She certainly hasn’t earned that distinction. Her party is more popular than she is, indicating her leadership could one day be called to question sooner rather than later.  As long Jean Charest and his even lower numbers continue to stay on, she really doesn’t have any reason to leave, nor does her party have the perfect storm to turf him out in spite of his low numbers.

There is more to it than more Liberals becoming a minority government, potentially as early as the summer, particularly if Jean Charest does  leave one way or another.  It’s probably also why she is so vehemently calling for Charest’s resignation sooner rather than later.

I also speculate that since Lucien Bouchard came out last February, saying Quebec sovereignty won’t happen in this lifetime, there may be some substance to the rumours floating around about his “Lucides” forming a Center-Right party.  If anybody wants an idea as to what the Lucides’s campaign might be if they turned into a political party, here is their manifesto. They’re not as wingnutty as the ADQ, but they’re a little too corporate friendly.  This party will probably never come to light, but the creation of a new provincial party would certainly be due. It would certainly make for more competition and it would be harder for anyone to get a majority.

I mentioned that the PQ doesn’t really have the perfect storm to oust Marois as leader, but that could always be subject to change at a later time depending when and if Charest steps down as leader and who would replace him. There are currently two ‘stars’ who have potential: Pierre Curzi and Bernard Drainville.  Personally, I prefer the latter.

Marois, herself has been under a cloud regarding zoning changes so she could either build and/or expand her chateau on Ile Bizarre.

When she was an MNA under Lucien Bouchard and then Bernard Landry, she redid her bathroom on the tax payer’s dime, complete with one of those extra special marble  toilets.

Marois also spoke of repealing the 200$ health care contribution and the proposed user fees (Charest scrapped those recently). All well and good, but Mme Marois, we seem to remember you buying out doctors’ and nurse’s contracts all in the name of bringing Quebec to zero deficit. You also said that if you had it to do all over again, you would.  Your cuts are more than likely, the main reason Charest proposed those fees and contributions.

She even admitted once upon a time that many services would be removed from Medicare; something she’s back pedalled from, but can we trust her? I would say no. Especially since she hints at many many cuts to our social programs.

Those are promises which also lead me to believe Marois has made some kind of deal with the remaining members of the ADQ and indications she’s taking the party to the right.

Marc Laviolette and the SPQ Libre, you want to enter provincial politics; don’t stay where you’re not wanted: clearly, Ms Marois doesn’t want you around.  Go make an offer to  Quebec Solidaire to help them, they can use all the help they can get and they’re much closer to you on  the political spectrum.

Polls have also said that most are resigned to the fact that all politicians are corrupt; none are squeaky clean. This is true and this is something we must never lose sight of.  Pauline Marois can say all she wants how she’ll investigate the construction industry, and even call her own public enquiry, but  in the end, this would benefit whom? Think of the millions of tax dollars on such an inquest. More scandals; more mudslinging. While the idea of public inquiries are a good idea in principle, they never come without a hefty price from the public and the media. If we learned anything from ADSCAM, even after a public inquiry,  many folks are still never satisfied and still want more blood. No, I’m fairly certain she would still not come away the hero. No one will.  Not with the way Canadian governments are financed and such. In order to prevent more scandals like the construction industry, busty hookers and illegal influenc peddling or ADSCAM, a complete overhaul would be needed indeed with much tighter limits and regulations on party campaign funding.  But, that’s another discussion for another time.

Gilles Duceppe is already working the sovereignty bid from his end. Why doesn’t Marois let him take care of that? Clearly, he would be much better at it. What’s the hurry Mme Marois? If you’re afraid you will lose your leadership of the PQ, perhaps there’s a logical reason for it, like, say, you earned it?

More than likely, we will be facing a federal election which will no doubt produce a result most won’t like. Why have on two at the same time?