Liberal minority, ADQ in second place, Charest defeated in his riding. This should be interesting.

SOCIALISM'S DEAD! :D

Clearly a rejection of Charest and the Libs, but is it also a rejection of the PQ and what they stand for, or a rejection only of Bosclair's personal inclinations?

How do you say revenge of the hosers in French? What is a French hoser? Guy?

Turns out there is such a creature. And they are as sick and tired of being told what they believe, and how to think as the rest of us. Heres hoping the ROC takes notice, in particular the lemmings here in Ont.

Wonder what Dion is thinking. Isn't this the first Prov election since Adscam. Seems the liberals are still being punished for that little episode.

Time for Harper to engineer a no-confidence vote in the House and go to the country. There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads to fortune.

Wow. I had given Quebec up for dead. I'm not yet sure what to make of Mario Dumont, but from what I've seen of him so far I like him. More autonomy for Quebec? Sure if it doesn't involve handouts from the Federal Government. It all seems to fit with any small C conservative's ideal of smaller government. It remains to be seen, but Canada may be far better off than it was yesterday.

This outcome would seem to bode well for the Conservatives in the next national election. It suggests they have an excellent chance of increasing their Quebec seats, taking significant numbers of Liberal and perhaps BQ seats. Any comment on that?

In 1976, Rene Levesque and the PQ were elected.
Pundits said Can political power will shift to Fed Libs.
Trudeau said he "best" to put Que in it's place.(1st)
2007 defeat of leftist Libs & PQ in Que means shift to PMSH.

Media polls failed miserably to detect the ADQ strength. Did they fail or were they trying to "steer" voters to the media's leftist position ?? Absolutely. (Most like to vote for the winner)

Well, it has been said that Quebec voters are the most savvy and informed in the country. It has certainly served them well to date. Maybe, but JUST maybe, this signals a realization by the public that separation is a dead horse and socialism is not going to work. Nahhhhhhh, I don't buy it. It is good news to a certain degree for the CPC though.

Green Party in Que garnishes less than 4% of the vote. In the media so-called hot-bed of Kyotoism.

So how cum the editors give the Suzukis 97% of the space ?? Whats the deal, Patricia Graham, editor of the Van Sun ??

No wonder ciculation is plummeting.

Charest BARELY re-elected. Interesting times indeed.

CTV currently has it as Charest elected, CBC has it as defeated. We may have to wait a bit on that one.

Did anyone else just see the change that moved Charest in front of his PQ opposition? When they went from 183 ballot boxes counted to 187 ballot boxes counted, Charest jumped from a 120 vote deficit to a 700+ point lead over his PQ rival. I don't know what the statistical likelihood is of getting nearly 100% of all 4 of those ballot boxes considering the near even split with PQ on previous ballot boxes, but if I were the PQ I'd be asking to see those 4 boxes as that just did not look right at all.

*
and the counter-clockwise ctv spin twins, lloyd robertson and
craig oliver desperately try to imply that evil puppetmaster
stephen harper somehow made a deal with mephistopheles
to influence the outcome.

pathetic.

*

Right there with you Matthew. I am absolutely not a fan of the PQ but that was a very very strange development that merits a full investigation. You've got an election that is split almost evenly three ways, there are no polls reported for a period of time, and tehn suddenly one candidate charges in front. It could be legit but if I was a Quebec un-Liberal, I would want it checked.

On the big picture ... I like it. The Charest Quebec Liberals were too wishy-washy, too willing to be just one hair to the right of the PQ, too unable to buck political correctness. A coalition government -- because that's what it will be, the two parties are almost equal in votes and seats -- will be an improvement on the status quo. Boisclair is a boat anchor dragging down the PQ, and he got re-elected. What's not to like?

Well the good news is the greens didn't win a seat. Polls sure wrong re support for them.

Could things look worse for Dion right now,

and could things look better for Harper?

I don't think so.

Time to go to the polls.

Like tomorrow!

Kate
No need to apologize.
Thank you for the SDA blog.

Can anyone tell us how many fed seats are in play with the adq win of 40 seats.

Wow, Steve's friend lost his seat. Oughta be more careful who he cozies up to, non?

Paul Wells Quebec election prediction, mere hours before the polls closed.
---------------------------------

"• ADQ: 26% of vote, 20 seats.
• PQ: 29% of vote, 44 seats.
• PLQ: 37% of vote, 61 seats.

Libs so close to a majority that they can govern with confidence for more than a year." PW.
--------------------------------------

Wishful thinking, Wells ?? Trying to influence the voters, Wells ??

And to think these guys get paid !! And subscriptions cost money.

Crabgrass,

priceless,

he won it, better check the news.

Also, the conservative party and the most open supporter of Harper, just blew this thing out of the water.

Libs are funny.

Harper's Quebec gambit has paid off in spades!!!
I could not be more happier.

The sudden shift in the polling for Charest was due to disputes from the PQ wrt to the advance polling.

Harper needs to go into the HOC tomorrow and have an altar call. He will have his majority in 30 minutes without calling an election ;)

The CBC Online did a crappy job reporting on the progress of Jean Charest's results in Sherbrooke.

First, at 8:52, while Jean Charest was behind by several hundred votes, he was reported to have won. The CBC writer didn't even bother to fill in what percentage of the vote he won with-- it just said he won with "???" percent of the vote.

Then at 10:35 pm, when Charest started to rally, they reported that he had lost. An hour later, he was ahead by several hundred votes.

I have more details and proof (screen captures) at my blog.

The CBC really goofed. I'll be writing to the CBC about this.

Perfect outcome! Charest got his butt kicked and that is just what I wanted, without the PQ getting the most seats. Charest's cynical ploy to buy the election using your tax dollars and mine (to the tune of 700 million bucks)backfired and I couldn't be happier. Maybe now the AD's Dumont will force this pusshead to use the money in the manner in which it was intended, namely, infrastructure, medicare, education... you know, stuff they actually need!

Politics in Quebec will be nothing if not interesting in the weeks and months to come, non?

Hopefully this election is a sign of things to come in Alberta. Voters supporting Dumont are really very similar to a whole lot of us small c conservatives out here and we are all looking for a sea change.

It happened in Quebec and is probably a mood resonating throughout the country.

Gone are the days when Western Canada is going to stand for any centrist government handing over $2.2 B to QC just to see it converted to a general tax reduction and to support $7-dollar-a-day daycare, very low tuitions, forced official bilingualism, etc., etc, - while at the same time holding a debt of $120 Billion.

Go Alberta Party. Go Sask Party. Province First agendas coming up.

Stupid PQ blew it again.

Comment from "a different Bob" -- "I have different opinions but I'm not the biggest basher around for sure." I didn't think this move was as cynical as you suggest. Charest had promised earlier (I believe) to lower taxes . . . and then did not deliver. Why did he not deliver? Well, you may recall his attempt to raise the $7 daycare fee -- and people were totally up in arms. The Quebec people have been spoiled by big government and big unions and it has been very hard for Charest to move forward in such an environmnet. The "fiscal imbalance" money was for provinces to decide how best to use. Other provinces can give tax breaks if they like also. A significant issue, however is that Quebecers are the most heavily taxed people in North America. It makes sense to me that lowering taxes would be a priority for them . . . while other types of expenditures would be a priority elsewhere. As far as "bribing" people -- when does government spending not benefit one group or another . . . hence anyone can interpret any spending as "bribing". I don't object to bribing per se . . . my gripe is with wasting. Charest deserves to continue to lead, but strength for the ADQ suggests a possible new direction in Quebec.

Hey Western Canadian:

I was born in Lachine, I'm happy the PQ imploded.

Separatists trying to leave, almost as good as East German border guards! I didn't take any rubbish from them either.

Pass the maple syrup, crepe suzettes in the morning!

This will win the CP at least 10 and maybe 15 more seats in QC - mostly from the Bloc. the Libs will lose a couple and win a couple as the BQ's support crumbles.

More importantly, it will mean 20+ extra seats for the CP in ON and a few elsewhere in the ROC now that PM SH has become very credible in QC (and in ALL ten Provinces for that matter).

Look for a very, very 'tough on crime' bill to be put forward that will be so unpalatable to all of the opposition parties (yet supported by a sizable majority of CDNs) that they will have to vote against it.

And it that doesn't work, then the CP will be able to rule as if it has a majority for the next two to three years.

If Duceppe is intent on punting Boisclair then a leaderless BQ would facilitate the latter rather than face annihilation at the polls.

My previous comment directed to "a different Bob" was in reference to his comment: "Charest's cynical ploy to buy the election using your tax dollars and mine." -- sorry for the inaccurate paste.

The voter support of ADQ seems to be a shift to the right by a large segment of Quebec voters.

Whether Harper can capitalize federally on the shift by calling an early election is the big
question.

The polling projections for Quebec indicating a close race appear to have been correct.

It's not a shift the leftist media in this country cares to see.

How will the leftist Canadian media react to this movement to the right in Quebec?

By hammering Harper and conservatism on anything with negative spin, I fully expect.

*
Let's face it... this particular contest wasn't about
anyone's lofty statements of vision or purpose.

"The question of whether sugar shacks should
bake beans without pork to satisfy Muslim and
Jewish customers generated more public debate
than provincial debt, the healthcare system
and cultural affairs combined."

*

Interesting days ahead. The Garthacle seems confused in a deer in the headlights sort of way.

Life is good!

Syncro

Coyne's analysis around his claim that Charest was Harper's man, "and make no mistake" about it, is completely flawed. The Charest vote is a one-for-one federal liberal vote which, as things stand, is a vote for Dion. Moreover, every single anglo Quebecker would understand this to be self-evident.

If one excludes the anglo population, the fracophones are pretty evenly devided between the left and right. And I don't mean Coyne-type pseudo "conservatives", but the real freedom-loving types, like they have in Texas. If these right wing fracophones have voted PQ in the past, it's probably because they found Quebec's leftist anglos and the Coynes of the ROC so bloody offensive.

Harper's man in this election was in fact Mario Dumont. Indeed, every single Dumont vote was already a Harper vote, and is certain to be one for the foreseable future. I'd say that right there is Harper's majority.

While it's evident that the MSM are factually challenged and wildly biased with regard to Harper and conservatives, many Conservatives take the MSM's "facts" about Quebec without question. Consider that 'Quebec separation' is an idea that both the federal and Quebec provincial Liberals are desparate to keep alive; it's the clan war of which they are half. The leftist Quebec media, both english and french, also owe their existance to the clan war; it's the only narrative they know.

What is always left out of this narrative is the fact that there is absolutely zero chance of Quebec separating, and there never really was much chance. Most PQ voters don't even consider it. Yet it's that fiction that has kept the federal liberals in power forever. Pro-sepratation rhetoric or anti-separation rhetoric just gets Liberals elected to Ottawa. Please remember that. Separation is a fiction!

Thanks for the space on your blog Kate. God bless.

dast.

If giving $1 billion to Charest during an election doesn't make him Harper's man, then what does? With the PQ holding the balance of power, nothing will change in Quebec anytime soon: the Federal government will keep on giving Quebec money, and the Quebec government will keep on spending it to support their social programs.

One third of the vote share was for the Libs; slightly less than one third each for the other two parties. This is hardly decisive nor is it a win for Harper and the Conservatives...it's more of a $1 billion slap in the face.

The same Quebec ridings that voted for PM Harper are the same ones at the heart of Dumon's ADQ victory. And now spread farther.

Coyne, Kinsella, most Media and others just cannot stand the thought of a decentralized AND united Canada that is also thriving. Undisfunctional.

The days of the all powerful PMO, with it's Privy Council of UNelected "directors" such as Maurice Strong, are over. OH CANADA !!

Good post Dast, I dont think that Charest was Harpers man either, more perhaps his useful idiot.

Charest is an old school politician from the Mulroney/Chretien days. His ideology is simply to win by saying whatever he thinks he will need to say or do - no real vision - not the kind of guy Harper would want to work with.

Dumont is very close to Harper in vision and I think integrity.

Harper however could not support Dumont specifically - that would have given the media too much a field day and might have potentially harmed Dumont.

Conservatives have lots of cash to run real polls - not the push polls that are regularly run to try to influence voters.

My thought is that the Conservatives had a pretty good idea of the lay of the land in Quebec.

The bug gets put in Charests ear that a Quebec freindly budget will favor his electoral chances. It gets telegraphed that the budget will be just that. So Charest calls an election because he beleives the media spin that Harper is trying to prop up his government.

In essence Harper played Charest into calling the election on Harpers timetable. With very little effort Harper helped Charest engineer his own defeat, assisted Dumont in establishing a strong presence in Quebec and kicked the tar out of the PQ for the forseeable future.

Like the magician who wants you looking everywhere but where the trick is, Harper was more than happy to have the national media playing the Harper/Charest story up. Dumont was his man.

The real trick though was getting Charest to take the bait.

Now the Lib minority cannot side with the PQ or they are siding with seperatists plain and simple. As such Libs will have to satisfy Dumont to stay in power.

If Dumont plays his cards right (and I think there is a guy in Ottawa who will be more than happy to give him good advice on how to do that) this will be his safe apprenticeship until such a time as the next election.

If he conducts himself reasonably Dumont will be the next Premier of Quebec and there will be nothing that Charest or the Libs or the PQ can do about it. They are hamstrung

Harper plays this game so far ahead of his rivals. That he finds himself in the catbird seat again is no accident.

Sorry, Iberia, but you are looking through the wrong end of the telescope. Harper is the big winner.

For over 35 years Conservatives in Quebec who opposed the separatists had to vote for the provincial Liberals. Conservatives who didn't want to vote Liberal could only protest by voting PQ.

This polarization has been shattered by the ADQ, who in spite of their acronym serve as the de facto provincial Conservative party of Quebec.

The PQ have been relegated to third place and people no longer have to default vote any more for one of two diametrically-opposed parties.

In the next federal election federalist vote outside of Montreal will now strategically vote Conservative. Combined with more leakage of Bloc vote to the Conservatives outside of Montreal, the Harper Conservatives are now poised to win at least thirty-five seats in Quebec,which will probably give the Conservatives the plurality of Quebec's 75 seats.

Dion is toast since the federal Liberals can no longer fearmonger about separation.. The Bloc will now have more MP's announcing they will not be running.

Harper majority just around the corner.

Cicero:

You are forgetting that Quebeckers are a fickle lot. They will normally vote whichever way will give them the biggest advantage with the federal government. Those who were tired of Charest and couldn't stomach Boisclair voted for Dumont. If Dumont had won a majority, or even a strong minority, then I would admit that you are right.

As it stands now, the vote share is fairly evenly split. All it will take is one polarizing issue and that will change overnight...it will be interesting to see what happens when Harper tries to force his NCC platform on Quebeckers.

The seat numbers show the magnitude of the effect in this election. The Quebec Liberals lost 24 seats going from 72 to 48, the PQ lost 9 seats, going from 45 to 36, and the ADQ gained 36 seats, going from 5 to 41 and forming the official opposition. Given that the Liberals have much more in common with the ADQ than they do with the PQ, I'd say that Quebec's new alliance is pretty much a done deal.

The CBC says that "Dumont's party came up from behind and gained favour with voters in several key ridings, which responded to [...] his common-sense message that includes tax cuts and child-care credits". Image that, the CBC calling tax cuts common sense. I wonder why they don't think that the $8.2 billion in tax cuts in the proposed federal budget are common sense?

CTV, in their current web article on the matter, call the ADQ the "right wing" party, twice. Of course that's nonsense, they're not right wing, they're just right of center, but anyway, they just gained 36 seats. That is going to effect government policy in Quebec, and in the right (ahem) direction.

The human social phenomenon is a bit like a pendulum. It keeps seeking the center, and then momentum carries us past that, until the arc reverses and we head back toward the center. The pendulum in Canada has been swinging to the left for some decades now; history would suggest that at some point it will trend back toward the center. After the last year's developments per Mr. Harper, and Mr. Stelmach, and now Mr. Dumont, perhaps we are now seeing the signs of a sea change in the course of Canada's ship of state.

Congratulations to Mario Dumont, for shaking up this election race. Harper should be celebrating tonight.

Dast has it right. A good result.

Mario Dumont shares the initials and follows in the footsteps of another conservative nationalist, Quebec's greatest premier, Maurice Duplessis. If you ever have the time, you should read Conrad Black's excellent biography on the man who was way ahead of his time. Duplessis wasn't afraid to do what was necessary for democracy to work, and he was a leader who knew how to build consensus. If he were around today, Muslim terrorists and liberal Jews wouldn't have nearly as much influence as they do. Mario Dumont has many of the same qualities, and with more exposure and growing coffers will be able to take the next election and get Quebec back to its traditional roots. It's high time the Church regained its influence in Quebec, and the Quiet Revolution was relegated to the dustbin of history. They say the 60's are over, and I couldn't agree more.

"I wonder why they (the CBC) don't think that the $8.2 billion in tax cuts in the proposed federal budget are common sense?"

Don't know about you, Vitruvius, but I didn't see a dime in tax cuts. Maybe the CBC rightly saw the pandering to special interests for what it was.

It's Citoyen Dion's fault. LibDion told the Quebec voters to kick out Liberal Charest. Liberal Dion advised/told/bullied the Quebecers to vote for Dumont-ADQ. Dion, the Bully, lost.

...-

Mr. Dumont said voters had made history. "One by one today, Quebecers went to the polling stations to write a page of history. They have closed a chapter and opened another," he told cheering supporters in Rivière-du-Loup. "Quebec had entered the 21st century in terms of economics and culture. Today Quebec has entered the 21st century politically."...-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1807360/posts

I couldn't be happier with the Quebec outcome. This had alot to do with Quebec autonomy but even more to do with reasonable accomodation.

I do believe that political correctness is on the way out in the Belle Province. Mr. Dumont was the only one who had the guts to bring this subject up.

Way da go Quebec!

Dumont has flip-flopped so many times in his political career, we really don't know what this result means.

Separation is fiction? Drat. Oh well, there's always hope.

It's not often you see Coyne say something as daft as that, but saying Charest is Harper's man is just unimaginably daft.

Anyone can glance at the electoral map and see the overlap between Conservative areas federally and the heart of the ADQ support. Not to mention common themes between the Conservative approach and ADQ's - decentralization, tax cuts, less bureaucracy - the ADQ even support private health care and school vouchers.

And other than in the far west Quebec riding of Pontiac, the Conservatives have effectively zero support among Quebec anglos.

It always amazes me at just how out of touch the chattering classes are with the Quebec heartland.

We could send a sympathy card to the CBC.

If anyone needs a laugh go to page four of Ottawa Citizen today for picture of Nancy Drew Holland walking in the rain with Mouthpiece Jennings, he has the Brolly over HIS head only and gawd, do they look important! They're followed by workers pulling carts of boxes, supposedly left by
Conservatives when they left that building.

Is there a law about looking through someone else's mail or is that just covered by having scruples?

But if you want truly breathtakingly daft commentary, you can usually count on Jeffrey Simpson. On the night the PQ finished in third place Simpson had this to say:

The Quebec election results -- a feeble Liberal minority -- illustrate the continuing disengagement of the province's francophones from Canada.

Yeah - voting for the most ideologically conservative party in the country is obviously much worse than voting for socialist separatists. I couldn't read the rest.

Has Dumont become Québec's Prime Minister in waiting?

He's got a great deal of housecleaning to do before that can happen.

First of all, being a populist, his party has attracted more than its fair share of marginals who'll either have to be expelled ( two candidates actually were during the elections) or reined in and told to shut up.

His team has no experience and it's mostly composed of individuals who've absolutely no background in the field of politics.

Since he is the official opposition with all its perks and advantages, I think he'll protect and even promote the minority gov't until such time as he feels that he and his party are prepared and able to govern properly. As it stands, almost everyone around him, apart from just 3 or 4 individuals have no experience or credentials and are virtually unknown to the larger public.

What's more, Mr Dumont has a reputation of being strong-willed, difficult to work with and is prone to imposing his views against the wishes of party members. He's surrounded by many impulsive loose cannons and his biggest challenge of all is to make sure they're kept well under controle.

Overall, though, Québec elections are more exciting than the Stanley Cup playoffs, aren't they?

"CBC Online wrongly reports Charest's re-lection"

"This is CBC reporting bias at its worse. The CBC Ombudsman should really hear about this."

How can it be biased if it turns out to be true? It's not like they can influence anybody's vote when the polls have already closed. When they reported that Charest had lost, was that bias too?

Dumont now has an opportunity to drag the centerline in QC politics back to the right. Up til last night the "centrist" position was a matter of how close the center dared go towards nationalist socialism.

We shall see if Dumont has the stuff of statesmen or becomes another ideological cameleon QC poli.

The first test will come in his pposition on the Quebec equalization extrotion racket...will he agrre to continue robbing Alberta to top off the excesses of a economically profligate socialist QC government or will he take a belt tightening approach....don't hold uer breath on this one folks.

What's more, Mr Dumont has a reputation of being strong-willed, difficult to work with and is prone to imposing his views against the wishes of party members.

Yes, while I'm happy to see the ADQ gather support, I'm not sure I want to see Mr. Dumont as premier. He's a bit of a megalomaniac and the party is really a one-man team.

The ballot actually identified the local ADQ candidate as "The team of Mario Dumont", as opposed to just identifying the candidate and his party affiliation, like the other parties do.

It will be interesting to see if the ADQ can build itself into a real party.

Charest's effort to buy votes failed miserably. Happy spending, Stephen.

Anyone claiming that the ADQ's success here bodes well for Harper would have a good deal more credibility had they said so before the results came in.

The french aren't all as lefty as the typical stereotype of them would suggest. France for instance almost elected a hard right (some might same pseudo facist) into high office lately.

"His team has no experience and it's mostly composed of individuals who've absolutely no background in the field of politics.

Since he is the official opposition with all its perks and advantages, I think he'll protect and even promote the minority gov't until such time as he feels that he and his party are prepared and able to govern properly. As it stands, almost everyone around him, apart from just 3 or 4 individuals have no experience or credentials and are virtually unknown to the larger public.

What's more, Mr Dumont has a reputation of being strong-willed, difficult to work with and is prone to imposing his views against the wishes of party members. He's surrounded by many impulsive loose cannons and his biggest challenge of all is to make sure they're kept well under controle."

Sounds just like what Stephen Harper faced when he became leader of the Alliance party and then the new Conservative Party. And that doesn't seem to be working out too bad...

Excellent commentaries, dast and vitruvius. It's an important shift in Quebec.

Finally, they are rejecting being a 'kept' society, a socialist welfare state run by a centralist top down authority.

The federal and separatiste camps were actually two sides of a coin. They promoted an identical welfare socialism; the only difference was 'who paid the bills'. The Liberal/federal camp had the Federal gov't pay the bills. The separatistes had God and the Fates pay the bills. But, the social structure was identical.

Now, finally, incredibly, the Quebec people themselves are taking charge. Dumont is, like Harper, speaking to the Working Family. They want a good and decent life for themselves. They aren't interested in being told what and when; they want to make decisions.

Separatism, that utopian side of the Liberal coin, is dead. That's because it did not empower the people; it simply continued the welfare state, funded by dreams.

Dumont's small gov't with options empowers the people. He talks about private as well as public health care, funding to families to make their own decisions about child care, less gov't, less welfare, etc, etc. He rejects separation and promotes a decentralization federation.

This WAS a referendum on the old style separatism, and it lost. It was also a referendum on a welfare state socialism supported by the Liberals. It also lost.

What won was decentralization with more powers to the local people.

At Dumont's gathering - I saw one supporter wearing a Stephen Harper hat. That's what it's all about.

A wonderful election. Now, hopefully, this new Quebec gov't will last at least 18 months, to give Dumont time to build his party and get some of those very important motions in operation.

Oh- and the Green party non-appearance showed that Quebec rhetoric and hard-nosed practicality are two different things.

This is also

Coyne couldn't be more wrong. Harper is grinning ear-to-ear today. Dumont is his man (in many ways, his clone); Charest is just his lackey; and his enemy, the PQ, is decimated. Dumont now holds all the cards; Charest is now putty in his hands.

There could not have been a clearer signal sent: Canadians from coast-to-coast very much like what Stephen Harper is doing.

"Green Party in Que garnishes less than 4% of the vote. In the media so-called hot-bed of Kyotoism."

Recall that in 2003 they got 0.44% of the vote. So 4% isn't a groundswell by any means, but at least they are registering now.

Crabgrass,Iberia et al have no comprehension of QC politics. It was ADQ support that lead to the CPC breakthrough in the the last federal election. CPC and PLQ have very little in common. The result indeed bodes well for PMSH.

Both federal and Qc libs are the last bastion of scared anglos on the island om Montreal

Not particularly surprising that the greens did not have a breakthrough...in an election this close, where nobody knew what the outcome would be, nobody wants to waste a vote on a party that has no chance of being a player.

And note how the ROC MSM pundits have all got it wrong. Jeffrey Simpson's column of today is even more simplistic and ignorant than most of his other columns.

That statement, that the Liberal minority represents the 'continuing disengagement of francophones' with the rest of Canada is garbage. Simpson is old style centralism, a relic of the 1950's 1960s. The Liberal minority with an ADQ opposition (which Simpson ignores) means that old style welfare state socialism supported by the federal trough is dead. As is separatism.

What is emerging is decentralization, a national federation of provinces with, each, more power. Exactly as envisaged in the BNA act before Trudeau et al got to power.

Then we have John Ibbitson, with his multiculturalism fetish, moaning that Quebec is turning into an 'intolerant' state. No it isn't; it is rejecting multiculturalist group identities and asking for a collaborative and integrated rather than isolationist population.

Coyne is a centralist.

But Canada is ready to move into its original plan, sabotaged by the centralism of the old Ontario-Quebec alliance of the 1950s and on. This original BNA plan is decentralization, with more powers to the provinces and less to the federal. That's exactly Dumont's ADQ proposal - and Harper's proposal.

jlc, it's true that I don't have a good grasp of QC politics. I was confident though that no matter the outcome of the election, it would be touted here as a great victory for Harper. How would you have responded to a decisive Liberal victory?

I also believe that Québecers felt that Harper was trying to push voters toward Charest and did not approve of his meddling. Of course I don't know for sure, but neither do you.

Last night Dumont called the results “a new path”. It will be a bumpy, cow path but at least it gets us underway to cleaning up a big mess.

What our politically correct MSM does not mention is the dominance of the unions in the Quebec economy. The labour unions are corrupt bullies that are affiliated formally and informally with organized crime. A good example is Alphonso Gagliano, Chrétien’s former Minister of Labour !!! ; who was reputedly associated with organized crime, before Chrétien sent him to be Ambassador to Denmark .. actually when he arrived, there was indeed “something rotten in Denmark”.

The middle class in Quebec are fully aware of the Hells Angels compounds in their communities with their drug dealers and worse, and they have had enough of it. Dumont understands these issues and yes maybe he sounds a bit like a one-man-band megalomaniac .. just like Giuliani did when he cleaned up New York and its unions and mafia.

'Quebec separation is dead'.

BS.

There is $3 billion in equalization payments with a $750 million tax break for 'needy' Quebec families that plainly says that it isn't.

The clearest message from this Quebec election is that the 'equalization' principle is deader than a doormat in this country.

And PM Harper would be wise to officially kill it completely.

Otherwise the western provinces will elect leaders to do it for him.

Crabgrass - I worked for and voted for the ADQ as did many anglos especially off-island where we are not so timid). I would have been greatly disappointed by a decisive lib win.

PMSH was saying don't vote PQ, not vote lib.

Whither provincial powers?

In 1981, George Jonas wrote an essay-article entitled: The Last Word.

The essay opened with:

"It is likely that Canada will soon have a new, patriated, amended constitution.Inevitably, such a reformed constitution will curtail provincial powers."

This was done by the Trudeaupian Liberals. Provincial powers were diminished. The provinces were henceforth to be vassals of Ottawa; beggars to be scorned; a mediaeval patron-client relationship. The provinces were assigned their seats below the salt.

At last, the Liberal-socialist state, centralized in Ottawa, has fallen.

The original Canada is now rising as the phoenix rose from the ashes.

The West led the way.

"But westward, look, the land is bright!"
(A.H. Clough)

Who cares if Charest Harper's man. Tories will benefit from some of his votes, plus some ADQ, and their teams of volunteers. That organization could net them 5-10 more seats, with attendant growth in Ont, if voters there see credibility in Que. Dion should shave off, in addition to Liberal votes, some soft Bloc.

Liberal theme next election will be to stop CPC majority (which really revs up the troops). If this new Que dynamic plays out in fed politics, LPC dead ducks, with CPC majority distinct possibility now.

Before we launch into federalist group hug, consider that Green vote, if it disproportionately hurt PQ, up and coming dynamic (cleavage?), which could translate federally by hurting NDP most.

Dumont in good spot. Doesn't really have to make decisions, just appear statesmanlike, and train to be next Que Premier. Politics are fickle so, on je jamais sais.

While not disaster at all for Dion, Harper seems to have lucked out again

By recognizing Quebec as a nation and by addressing the percieved "fiscal imbalance" between the federal and provincal governments, Harper effectively marginalized the soft nationalists taking separtism off the table as a major issue. This enabled 70% of Quebecers to vote for non-seperatists parties. For this Harper deserves credit and is rightly seen as the big winner as Quebecers can now consider other important issues which might appeal to the Conservative voter (pro-family, tax-cuts, health care reform).

The former bastion of socialist utopianism has turned decidedly right.

Is that iberia, crabgrass, and the rest of the pablum eaters on the run?

I'd say it is a disaster for Dion, without the antogonist separatist party in the 'unity' narrative, the Liberals are doomed. Not to mention Dion's only accomplishment in politics is the now moot Clarity act.

looks like the 5 million clock will tick over in one or two days. early congrats Kate.

And on a less cheery note, the results in the riding of Mercier may be foreshadowing the next big thing in Quebec politics. The hard-left-Islamist alliance of Quebec Solidaire with candidate Amir Khadir finished second with 29% of the vote. He came within 4% of winning his seat.

Not a happy sight, but fortunately it was only one riding. But then the ADQ was only a threat in one riding not too long ago.

You are exactly right ET. I agree even though I just did not know how to word it. It is the BNA act being resurrected. Amen to that.

The best result I read last night was AL GORE HAS JUST BEEN ELECTED IN SHERBROOK, can't remember who wrote it. The way the msm was jumping around on who did win, it could have been Gore. Did the green vote cause any problems with splitting any vote. Only getting about 3% of the total vote, May must be in total shock. Didn't polls have them at 13%.

Miss Daisy, don't knock pablum if you haven't tried it. Strained plum is tops.

Where do you think PQ voters unhappy with Boisclair parked their vote?

Still, if you like the Conservatives, you'll be pleased to know I just had a burger and fries for lunch, which I think truly paves the way for a CPC majority.

"Dast" must remember that the Outaouais had all provincial 5 seats go Liberal, whereas the same region split three seats in the last federal election (1 Lib, 1 Bloc, 1 Con). These five seats are not Liberal votes, but at least a split, and at best Harper votes. The anglos of the Pontiac know this, and "Dast" would do well to remember it, as well.

You want to know about the ADQ? Ignore the media, ignore Coyne, Wells, et al -- they only filter out the real story.

Do yourself a favour and read the ADQ's platform: http://adqaction.com/media/ADQ_Program.pdf

More conservative than any provincial party in Canada on most issues -- especially the core provincial issues of education and health care.

The media only talks about Dumont's "autonomy" story as it relates to Quebec -- but it's more than that, it's autonomy (freedom of choice) for individuals and families versus the state enforcing its way.

ET

I actually agree with everything you just said in your post. Jeffrey Simpson sounds more authoritative when he writes about Robert Mugabe rather than Mario Dumont! I think his idea of the ideal Canada is having francophone Quebecers forced into watching reruns of the Beachcombers '' so as to better engage themselves within Canada''

Dion was on a rant against Harper at a 'press conference' today re the Quebec election.

He basically blamed Harper for the Liberals not getting a majority, saying Harper interfered in the election with bribes and by saying he preferred to work with federalist government in Quebec.

Of course the Liberals never used bribes in Quebec. Wonder what he would call ADSCAM?

Dion was on a rant against Harper at a 'press conference' today re the Quebec election.

He basically blamed Harper for the Liberals not getting a majority, saying Harper interfered in the election with bribes and by saying he preferred to work with federalist government in Quebec.

Of course the Liberals never used bribes in Quebec. Wonder what he would call ADSCAM?

Is Charest leading the provincial liberals to the same result Paul Martin took the federal liberals.
Majority, minority and defeat. I think voters in Quebec are still in the mood to punish all liberals, possibly until all those missing millions are returned, and 12 lib mps are outed for receiving said stolen money.
Not one network even mentioned that as a possibility for the loss of so many seats.

couldn't get past the title of this post...
kinda just breezed to the bottom to post an apology..cause i really should try, to focus on the the importance of events in quebec in regards to canada..but numbness at the realization that the vortex that is quebec is robs my brain of any more...ahhh back to the card game

What exactly has Quebec given to Canada? Oil? Mining?Lumber?Potash? Why are they a have not province? Is because of crooked politicians? The Church? We pay a hefty price for their votes. As far as I'm concerned they are still a little off the mark when it comes to politics. Maybe the quiet revolution is still happening.