I guess the PQ is already gearing up for the next provincial election, as party leader Bernard Landry announced he will resign, paving the way for a new – and more charismatic – leader to be elected:
Landry made the surprise announcement after getting a 76.2 percent confidence vote from party members at the Parti Quebecois’ convention in Quebec City, capital of the mainly French-speaking province of 7.4 million.
“It breaks my heart to tell you this, but I’m doing it in the national interest,” Landry said, according to a report by CBC television. “I’m sorry to do this.”
Landry said previously that if he got more than 76 percent in the leadership review vote he would remain at the helm, but the 68-year-old politician has faced criticism from within the party since losing the 2003 provincial election.
Who’s surprised? Not me. Landry was never going to be party leader in the next election campaign, and this timing gives the PQ a chance to bring in somebody new before election frenzy hits.
My bet for new party leader? Gilles Duceppe. After all, he’s the most popular politician in Quebec right now, and the leadership of the Bloc is really nothing but a launching pad for provincial leadership, as established by Lucien Bouchard’s precedent.
It was already pretty much guaranteed that the PQ would win the next election, with the Liberals’ numbers somewhere down around the temperature in centigrade on a mid-January day in Montreal. But with Landry as premier, it was doubtful that the separatists could win a referendum. If Duceppe takes the helm, however, that changes the whole ball game. And unless the federalist camp starts gearing up for a fight soon, there’s a frighteningly realistic possibility that we could lose.
“It breaks my heart to tell you this, but I’m doing it in the national interest,”
Huh? National interest? How’s THAT work?
He means the interest of the “Quebec nation”, not the “Canadian nation”.
(I know what he MEANT; I’m just being argumentative…)
Main Entry: 1na·tion·al
Pronunciation: ‘nash-n&l, ‘na-sh&-n&l
Function: adjective
1 : of or relating to a nation
2 : NATIONALIST
3 : comprising or characteristic of a nationality
4 : belonging to or maintained by the federal government
5 : of, relating to, or being a coalition government formed by most or all major political parties usually in a crisis
– na·tion·al·ly adverb
Main Entry: na·tion-state
Pronunciation: ‘nA-sh&n-‘stAt, -“stAt
Function: noun
: a form of political organization under which a relatively homogeneous people inhabits a sovereign state; especially : a state containing one as opposed to several nationalities
So much for you Anglos, apparently you’re not even part of the equation 9according to the ‘nation-state’ def.
Marois will win the leadership. Duceppe has sold out and will remain in Ottawa. He,s much like the rest of his generation; getting more conservative and penny conciousas the years go by. Québeckers don’t want another referendum, and if another is held the PQ will lose!
Why the absolute certainty that Charest will lose next time?
He doesn’t have to call an election till 2008, if he so chooses, and the old adage that 6 mos in politics is an eternity applies nicely to the present situation.
Older populations tend NOT to take risks with their financial future. The ageing péquistes who voted yes in 1980 have morphed into the generation that voted “non” in that same consultation. Marois with her four children, her political hindsight, and her growing maturity has changed from an impatient seperatist firebrand to a pragmatic “Yvette”.
It’ll never fly Sari!!!