WAS I THE only one south of the border who was glued to the computer screen watching CBC TV's streaming online coverage of the Quebec elections? The results of the vote for the provincial parliament proved surprisingly exciting, perhaps even dramatic. The star of the evening was the stunning success of Mario Dumont's Action Democratique du Quebec, breaking out of their small strongholds and winning seats across the entire province. They even made inroads in the leftist bastion of Montreal. While they did not win any seats on the island of Montreal, the came second in a number of ridings (as constituencies are known in Canada), and took a number of seats in the Montreal suburbs. But perhaps I should give a little background to what's going on.
At the last election (in 2003), the Liberals (Parti libéral du Quebec) took 76 seats, the PQ (Parti Québécois) won 45, and the ADQ a measly 4 seats in the National Assembly of Quebec. To explain the parties is somewhat difficult. One of the advantages of Canada's political culture over that of the United States is that the two-party system is less uniformly entrenched. In every United State, there is a Democratic Party and a Republican Party and the state parties are for the most part in lock step with the national party, with a few slight variations. Not so in Canada.
The Quebec Liberals (along with the British Columbian Liberals) are not affiliated with the nationwide Liberal Party of Canada. In fact, Quebec's Liberal Prime Minister, Jean Charest, was formerly the head of the federal Tories (when they were still known as the Progressive Conservatives). The PQ, meanwhile, are one of those anomalies particular to Quebec. They are the Québécois sovereigntists who seek independence from Canada; while nationalists, they are most definitely of the left, much like Scotland's SNP. The ADQ were a small, more centrist, perhaps even conservative, group of 'soft nationalists' that broke off from the Quebec Liberals in 1994.
The ADQ began to look like a contender midway through the election campaign when their share of the polls began to rise. Premier Jean Charest correctly realized the danger the ADQ posed to his Liberals and began to redirect his attacks against les péquistes (the PQ) towards les adéquistes (the ADQ). The PQ leader André Boisclair, meanwhile, proved wildly unpopular and the nationalists restricted his campaign appearances to the party faithful, making sure he had as little interaction with the public. (Also, Boisclair's homosexuality probably proved unpopular with péquistes in the sticks as opposed to the urban liberals who run the party). So both the Government and the Opposition turned their attentions towards the ADQ, which in turn allowed Mario Dumont to control the frames of reference by which the campaign was run.
The result was the stuff of history. The Liberal majority slashed to a minority of 48 seats. The PQ, which had formed the government in 1998 with 76 seats, reduced to third place with 36 seats. The ADQ stole the show with 41 seats, havign had only five by the time the previous parliament was dissolved. The pundits on the CBC were stuck for words. A number of times throughout the evening (above) it looked as if the ADQ had a chance of forming the government. At one point it even looked like Premier Charest might lose his own seat in parliament. What soon became clear, however, was that the final result would be some form of three-way-split between the parties. This is the first time since 1878 that Her Majesty's Government of Quebec has not had a parliamentary majority behind it. In theory, a coalition government could be formed with government ministries divided between whichever two parties partnered. The Westminster system, however, relies far more on the adversarial than on the cooperative, and coalition governments on the provincial level in Canada have usually proved disastrous for the parties involved.
One of the most frequent criticisms of the ADQ during the campaign was the almost complete political inexperience of the adéquiste candidates. Few of those standing for the party had been involved in politics to the same extent as those of the PLQ and PQ. ADQ candidates were schoolteachers, parents, men and women of businesses of every shape and size; they were not the — cringe! — professional politicians who compose the ranks of the Liberal and PQ Members of the National Assembly. To the media, this seemed like a handicap, but I suspect it seemed like a breath of fresh air to the voters.
Also, the result bodes well for the Constitution. The ADQ have branded themselves as 'autonomists' who will fight for Quebec's power but within the framework of the Canadian confederation. A marked contrast to the independence-obsessed sovereigntists of the PQ and the federalists of the Parti libéral. The PQ promised, if elected, to hold another referendum on independence, the third following the 1980 and 1995 votes against secession. No doubt many patriotic Francophones are tired of the decades of niggling over constitutional questions, with referendums hanging like a perpetual sword of Damocles over the heads of Quebec voters.
So Charest remains Premier of Quebec. In some ways, this is even better for the ADQ than being able to form a minority government itself. Having 41 seats in the Assemblée Nationale du Québec allows these newly-minted pols to gain a little experience while the Liberals whimper on with a minority government that can't last for long. Meanwhile, the ADQ replaces the PQ as the official opposition, giving Mario Dumont the first crack at Charest during question time in parliament. On the whole, it is a firmer foundation on which to build a future government than sweeping to power having previously held only a handful of seats.
Previously: The Men Who Saved Quebec | Hitchcock in Quebec
