Quebec elections 2014

A Referendum on a Referendum: Non, Merci!
Celine Cooper
(Policy Magazine May/June 2014) The Quebec election campaign was launched on a breath taking miscalculation and went downhill from there for the Parti Québécois. From Pierre Karl Péladeau’s fateful fist pump to scare tactics about Muslim swimmers, the PQ’s campaign was a parade of missteps. But in the end, the PQ was selling two things: a divisive, inward-looking “values charter” and the prospect of a third referendum on sovereignty. Quebecers just weren’t buying.
… one problem with the PQ’s brand of national identity was that it abstracted Quebec not only from Canada, but also from the globalized world in general—a world that is increasingly diverse, rapidly changing and interconnected. The PQ reanimated a nationalism rooted in fear, the need to turn inward to survive. But times have changed. In the end, Quebecers just didn’t buy it.
2 May
Parti Quebecois meets for election post-mortem
Pauline Marois joined members of the Parti Quebecois’ rank-and-file Saturday to discuss what went wrong in last month’s provincial election. … About 150 PQ members gathered for a closed-door meeting to discuss the party’s April 7 election loss.
1 May
Lysiane Gagnon: Mauvais perdants
On s’entend, la joute politique n’est pas une partie de golf. Le jeu est brutal, et la défaite, dévastatrice. Ce qui n’excuse pas du tout la grossièreté manifestée par Pauline Marois envers ses successeurs.
(La Presse) L’équipe de M. Couillard a eu toutes les misères du monde à rencontrer les membres du cabinet de Mme Marois, pour la transmission des dossiers gouvernementaux. Cela ne s’est fait qu’à la toute veille de la nomination du conseil des ministres! Ces délais anormaux étaient-ils dus à la mauvaise foi? Au désir de camoufler quelque chose? À la désorganisation pure et simple?
Et voilà qu’on apprend que la première ministre sortante a fait vider les trois bureaux dont elle disposait dans la circonscription de Charlevoix. Et en plus, les lignes téléphoniques avaient été coupées! …
On savait que Léo Bureau-Blouin était un garçon bien élevé. Il l’a démontré une fois de plus en laissant à son successeur, en deux piles distinctes, les dossiers complétés et les dossiers non réglés. … Voilà une attitude qui devrait servir de leçon aux députés qui font passer leur ressentiment personnel avant les intérêts de leurs électeurs. Dommage qu’elle leur soit servie par celui qui fut le plus jeune député de l’histoire… ce qui prouve bien que la maturité n’est pas une question d’âge.
Editorial: The PQ’s problems go beyond a bad campaign
Senior figures in the Parti Québécois are gathering in Laval this weekend for an election post-mortem that looms as a bitter reckoning.
They will be analyzing what was arguably the worst defeat the party has suffered in its 46 years of existence. True, the 30 seats it won on April 7, with 25.4 per cent of the popular vote, surpassed its score in the 1970 election, when it took a mere seven seats with a 23.1 per cent vote share. But that was the first election the PQ ever contested, and it signalled a fledgling party on the rise. Last month’s result pointed to a tired old party in historic decline.
There will undoubtedly be calls for heads to roll, in retribution for a campaign that was expected to be an easy walk to the electoral majority that eluded the PQ a mere 19 months earlier. But what satisfaction comes from assigning blame will hardly amount to salvation.
Certainly, polls four years removed from the next election in 2018 are meaningless in terms of what might happen then. But a post-election survey, sounding voters out on prospective PQ leadership candidates, is indicative of the party’s dire straits.
The poll by the CROP firm found the PQ would get its biggest boost from Gilles Duceppe, despite the resounding rejection he suffered in the last federal election. The same poll found star recruit Pierre Karl Péladeau would boost its current popularity by a paltry two percentage points.
27 April
David T. Jones: How the PQ eviscerated itself
(The Metropolitain) if ever there was a classic example of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, it was demonstrated by the Parti Quebecois in this election. It is difficult to transform clear electoral polling advantages and momentum at the beginning of a short campaign into massive defeat; however, Mme Marois has provided a textbook illustration of such. Not only was her party rejected—in the worst defeat of its modern history—but to add insult to injury, she was ousted from her own riding. …
A majority PQ government might have been able to manipulate a combination of demands, “grievances,” and weak federal leadership in Quebec/Ottawa into the proverbial “winning conditions” for a referendum. It is not that Quebeckers are hostile to the concept of independence—they just are exceptionally hostile to the process for securing it. …
Essentially, the hand of Canada lies lightly on Quebec; Francophones are indeed “masters in their own dwelling,” and the more discerning appreciate Ottawa provides considerable fiscal support.
14 April
Celine Cooper: Quebec nationalism is changing
Quebec — long abstracted from large-scale, pan-Canadian initiatives and policy endeavours — must now resume its place and responsibilities in shaping the federation. For its part, Canada must reacquaint itself with a new Quebec nationalism; not because it is the divisive, intolerant or backwards force it is too often portrayed to be. But because, as last week’s election results demonstrate, it may be precisely the opposite.
We rejected an electoral ploy disingenuously veiled as secularism, gender equality and “values” that was designed to generate winning conditions for a referendum the majority of us did not want.
We rejected a vision of ourselves that we did not recognize.
Philippe Couillard offered a vision of an open, pluralist and welcoming Quebec. For many of us, it was a breath of fresh air.
And now as the PQ picks up the pieces and decides where to go from here, the Liberals should be humbled that the electorate has seen fit to trust them with a majority government only 19 months after they were voted out of office amid allegations of corruption, patronage and illegal financing.
As the Charbonneau Commission resumes, Couillard must commit to an open, transparent government to restore faith in a party brought back from purgatory before it would otherwise have been.
Martin Patriquin: The epic collapse of Quebec separatism
Election night revealed that the real enemy of the sovereignty movement isn’t the Liberals, immigrants or any of the PQ’s bogeymen. It’s simply the march of time.
(Macleam’s) Sovereignty isn’t dead. It is impossible, sovereignists themselves often say, to kill a dream shared by a rock-ribbed 30 per cent of the population. Rather, Quebec’s sovereignty movement goes through fits and starts, peaks and valleys, a sleeping giant that can wake up and roar at a moment’s notice.
But … the movement isn’t getting any younger. A recent study by public opinion analyst Claire Durand notes that in 1980, support for sovereignty was strongest among those francophones under the age of 35. Today, Durand’s study shows, the average sovereignist is above 55. Translation: the once-youthful sovereignist is fighting the same battle as he settles into retirement age. “Demography has caught up with us,” mused writer and broadcaster Denise Bombardier on a Quebec City radio station during the campaign.
Jean François Lisée: Déchiffrer l’élection de 2014: L’éléphant dans la pièce
Federal leaders, parties dodged a bullet in Quebec election: Hébert
By electing a federalist majority government on Monday, Quebec voters have effectively changed the channel of next year’s federal election campaign
Jeffrey Simpson: As grievances shrink, sovereignty’s risks to Quebec grow
To break up a federation such as Canada would likely require serious, tangible grievances: oppression of human or linguistic rights, unfair division of national wealth, clearly discriminatory policies, an inability to get along in the same constitutional arrangement.
It could not credibly be claimed that these fundamental injustices plague Quebec within Canada, despite plenty of internal disagreements and episodic moments of tension. Listening to the PQ in recent years, it was clear that the rhetoric hadn’t changed, but the list of grievances had shrunk. And so had Quebeckers’ interest, along with it.
PQ could be party of a single generation: Hébert
The Parti Quebecois has sustained a life-threatening defeat. Is there a future for a party whose existence has been defined by its secessionist quest in a political environment that has become so viscerally hostile to its efforts?

Pauline Marois resigns as PQ leader after crushing defeat

At Issue
Andrew, Bruce and Chantal are right on the mark in their comments of the election results.
Quebec election 2014 results: A live riding-by-riding breakdown of the vote
Global News: Quebec election in 6 minutes

Parti libéral du Québec
An intriguing new entry BlockPeladeau.com – fact-filled and hard hitting.
La villa de Pauline Marois à Ste-Irenée et ses autres maisons
Interactive map: Quebec provincial election ridings
10 memorable quotes from the Quebec election campaign

Hatley Minute #9 – Adam Daifallah, the only honest commentator, says “We just don’t know” (4 April 2014)

(Global) 7 ridings to watch in Quebec provincial elections
Charlesbourg — it will be interesting to see if the riding of Charlesbourg remains as unfaithful to the CAQ as it has been to the Liberals and the PQ in the past. PLQ
D’Arcy McGee — incumbent Lawrence Bergman has stepped aside for David Birnbaum, the former executive director of the Quebec English School Boards Association, making his political debut.
Laurier-Dorion —  Although Laurier-Dorion has been held by the Quebec Liberal Party’s Gerry Sklavounos since 2007, Quebec Solidaire’s new president, Andrés Fontecilla, hopes to claim the party’s third seat
Laval-des-Rapides —  a Liberal riding for almost a decade before student leader-turned politician Leo Bureau-Blouin took it; considered a bellwether riding, as it has voted for the winning party in every election. PLQ
La Piniere — The Liberal’s newest star candidate, Gaetan Barrette, will face off against incumbent Fatima Houda-Pepin
Nelligan  — primarily French-speaking, it has been a Liberal stronghold since its creation in 1981. The multicultural riding has also often identified as being highly anti-separatist. Liberal Party incumbent, Yolande James, stepped down earlier this year. LPQ
Saint-Jerome — PKP faces off against former TVA journalist Armand Dubois  PKP won
And here are CBC’s bellwether picks: Quebec election 2014: Ridings to watch on election night
Key battles will indicate whether the PQ’s gamble will pay off or the Liberals can steal a win
Can Liberal Party Leader Philippe Couillard win in Roberval? The incumbent Parti Québécois candidate, Denis Trottier, has won three times in a row since 2007. Trottier won in 2012 by nearly 6,000 votes. LPQ
In La Pinière, long-time Liberal Fatima Houda-Pepin is running as an Independent after quitting the party over its stand on the secular charter. Can her personal popularity in the riding trump the Liberal tradition in this riding that dates back to 1989?
in L’Assomption, Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Légault is facing a tough challenge from popular former Bloc Québécois MP Pierre Paquette with a decade-long track record of election wins at the federal level.  He/CAQ won
— If Marois’s election gamble is going to work, one riding the PQ needs to win is Groulx. It’s a CAQ riding in the suburban belt of ridings around Montreal, where the PQ usually does very well. The PQ won this riding in 2008. There is no CAQ incumbent. If the PQ is not winning this riding, it’s an early sign that its hope for a majority could be lost. CAQ
— An early sign that the Liberals might be on their way to forming government could come in the Quebec City riding of Charlesbourg. CAQ incumbent Denise Trudel won last time by more than 1,000 votes. The PQ candidate is Dominique Payette, former journalist, university professor and mayor of Lac-Delage. The Liberal candidate is François Blais, the dean of the faculty of social Sciences at Laval University.LPQ
— A riding that might signal the Liberals are on their way to a majority win is Champlain. The party has not won here since 1989.  LPQ
The North Shore riding includes a portion of Trois-Rivières and is held by PQ incumbent Noella Champagne. The PQ has won this riding in every election since 1994, except for a loss to the Action Démocratic Québec in 2007. The ADQ candidate that won that election is Pierre Michel Auger, who is now running for the Liberals. Auger ran as a Liberal last time and lost. But if he goes from third place to first in this riding in the early results Monday night, then it will be shaping up as a good evening for the Liberals and a bad night for Marois and the Parti Québécois.

Frédéric Laurin: Comparaison des plateformes économiques
Voici une comparaison des engagements électoraux en matière de développement économique des quatre grands partis politiques se présentant aux élections du 7 avril prochain. Je n’ai pas voulu entrer dans un débat de chiffres et de comptabilité que je laisse à d’autres commentateurs. Plutôt, les plateformes électorales sont évaluées selon trois grands critères liés aux grands enjeux de l’économie du Québec:
1. Développement économique : croissance et création de richesse, développement régional les régions et les villes), plans sectoriels en appui au secteur agricoles, manufacturiers, des services ou des ressources naturelles, Entrepreneuriat et création d’entreprise.
2. Compétitivité du Québec : innovation, éducation, exportations, formation des travailleurs, attraction des investissements étrangers;
3. Emploi : lutte contre le chômage et intégration des personnes sur le marché du travail.
Pour certaines mesures, j’ajoute un commentaire éditorial en caractère italique.
J’aurais souhaité ajouter le développement durable à ces critères, un enjeu crucial pour le Québec, mais par soucis de ne pas alourdir davantage la comparaison, je laisse au lecteur le soin de faire cette analyse.
À la fin du tableau, je donne une note sur 10 au programme de chaque parti selon la capacité de ses engagements électoraux à concrètement et efficacement améliorer la situation économique du Québec.

Les points chauds qui feront le scrutin (15 ridings to watch)
(Le Devoir) C’est ici que ça se joue. Une quinzaine de circonscriptions à majorité francophone auront une influence déterminante sur les résultats du scrutin. La performance de la Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) de François Legault pèsera lourd dans la balance. Le Parti québécois parie sur l’effondrement des appuis de la CAQ, suggéré par les sondages, pour obtenir la majorité des sièges à l’Assemblée nationale. Mais l’histoire démontre que tout peut survenir dans une campagne électorale. Le raz-de-marée adéquiste du scrutin de 2007 et la vague orange de mai 2011 ont fait mentir tous les pronostics.

Where parties stand on five big issues in the Quebec election — Sovereignty, Public Finances, Health, Economy and jobs, Corruption and ethics (26 March)  — a handy checklist.

************************************

Kimon Valaskakis: Sovereignty is overblown: It would bring less power, not more
(Montreal Gazette op-ed) The opponents of independence have rightly warned of a probable economic decline for Quebec immediately after independence. But what is much more persuasive is to argue that Quebec sovereignty, in today’s world, would end up weakening rather than strengthening Quebec’s control over its own affairs.
Bernie’s Election Blog: The CAQ wildcard
CBC’s Bernard St-Laurent on the CAQ and Quebec’s next government
Beryl Wajsman: This is the referendum
The first – and last ? – time that the NYT files a story datelined Buckingham Quebec?
A Star Candidate’s Support for Secession Undercuts Quebec’s Governing Party
(NYT) Quebec’s independence movement may not be the only political cause that Mr. Péladeau has upset. Ms. Lalancette, the political communications professor, said that Pauline Marois, Quebec’s premier and the leader of the Parti Québécois, clearly hoped to build her campaign around her proposal to ban the wearing of obvious religious symbols like hijabs, turbans, skull caps and large crucifixes. Despite Ms. Marois’s efforts to the contrary, debate over that measure during the campaign has been largely crowded out by talk about separation.
But Ms. Lalancette said that the controversy generated by Mr. Péladeau did have one positive impact. Last week, an advance poll for students was set up outside of her office.
“I was surprised, in a good way, by the many, many students who came to vote,” she said.
5 April
Ekos poll points to a Liberal win
“Barring some frankly unforeseeable collapse, Philippe Couillard’s Liberal party is going to emerge with a victory on Monday.”
That’s the conclusion of a new Ekos research poll that has the Liberals winning 40 per cent of the vote, compared with 26.3 per cent for the Parti Québécois, 21 per cent for the Coalition Avenir Québec and 9.6 per cent for Québec Solidaire.
The numbers, based on a random sample of 1,422 eligible voters between March 27 and April 3, compare with other polls done over the last week.
None of the polls show definitively whether the Liberals will form a minority or majority government, however.
2014 Quebec Election Projection
The following are ThreeHundredEight.com’s forecasts for the upcoming provincial election in Quebec, scheduled for April 7, 2014. These numbers were last updated on April 5, 2014, and reflect the best estimates as of April 3, 2014, the last day of polls included in the model.
4 April
Une course serrée jusqu’à la fin
Évolution des intentions de vote
(Journal de Montréal) À trois jours du scrutin, rien n’est joué. Les libéraux de Philippe Couillard sont toujours en avance dans les intentions de vote, mais la remontée de la Coalition avenir Québec vient brouiller les cartes et transforme cette fin de campagne en une lutte à trois dans les comtés francophones.
Avec 38 % d’appuis, le Parti libéral formerait le gouvernement si les Québécois devaient voter aujourd’hui, révèle un sondage Léger réalisé pour le compte du Journal. La majorité n’est toutefois pas acquise pour les troupes de Philippe Couillard, qui peinent à hausser leur score chez les francophones.
Angus Reid — Quebec Liberals lead on eve of final campaign weekend; movement of CAQ vote hurts PQ
Quebec election campaign a devastating blow to sovereigntists: Hébert
Over the past month Quebec voters have all but spelled the three letters of the word NON in boldfaced characters for Pauline Marois to read.
Now, in the final minutes of the third period, a traumatizing defeat is staring Marois in the face. Win or lose next week, the PQ knows that a referendum in the next mandate has become a non-starter.
If the party loses power on Monday, it will be back in opposition after having spent only 18 months of the past decade in office.
It may be that the loss of traction of sovereignty is turning the Parti Québécois into little more than the spare wheel of Quebec politics.
Marois’s Campaign Dip Shows Quebec Not Ready to Separate
(Bloomberg) A defiant fist pump from one of Quebec’s richest men will probably cost Quebec Premier Pauline Marois the election on April 7.
Media mogul Pierre Karl Peladeau joined Marois’s campaign as a candidate for the Parti Quebecois on March 9, vowing to fulfill his dream of creating a separate country for the Canadian province.
Marois’s support has been falling ever since, showing that most Quebeckers aren’t ready for another referendum on separation, and will punish politicians who advocate for one. The latest polls show the Liberal Party led by Philippe Couillard enjoys as much as a nine-point lead over Marois’s separatist party, reversing the PQ’s two-point lead at the start of the campaign.
How low they have sunk
Come to Montreal; there are no mass shootings like there are in the States: Lisée
(CJAD) Quebec’s International Relations minister Jean-François Lisée believes the relative lack of large-scale shooting incidents is part of the reason why Quebec is a good place to do business.
He made the comments yesterday during a Parti Québécois campaign stop at the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, where earlier in the week Liberal leader Philippe Couillard received a standing ovation.
3 April
Sondage élections : les conseillers choisissent les libéraux à 49 %
Les experts n’ont pas été étonnés des intentions de vote des conseillers illustrées par le sondage. Néanmoins, la tendance libérale traditionnelle des acteurs du secteur financier québécois ne signifie pas que les libéraux ressortent du lot en ce qui concerne leur stratégie économique, sauf par rapport à Québec solidaire.
Malgré qu’il déplore l’absence de grande vision à long terme, Brett House estime que les petites mesures pour les contribuables présentées par le Parti libéral, la Coalition avenir Québec et le Parti québécois sont équivalentes et peuvent être bénéfiques.
« C’est important de garder en tête le fait que nous sommes encore dans les derniers mois de la crise. ll y a un élément temporel qui est lié à chaque mesure. Les propositions qui ne sont pas des mesures à long terme peuvent créer des conditions pour relancer la croissance. Même si elles ne créent pas de la croissance durable, on doit faire des choses à court terme qui peuvent aider l’économie à atteindre une bonne vitesse de croisière », dit-il.
2 April
St-Jerome remains lukewarm on PKP
Many people CJAD spoke to either did not like him, or did not like his party.
Rémi Bourget: Clause dérogatoire et mensonges ostentatoires
(Journal de Montréal) Depuis huit mois, les inclusifs répètent que la Charte viole les droits fondamentaux. L’écrasante majorité des juristes vous diront que les sanctions appliquées contre les employés portant un symbole religieux vont à l’encontre de la liberté de conscience et de religion protégées par nos chartes des droits. Envers et contre tous, le ministre responsable de la Charte a soutenu le contraire, citant continuellement les même 3-4 noms de juristes dissidents comme caution.
… l’article exact du projet de loi prévoyant que la Charte pourrait être étendue aux entreprises bénéficiant de subventions ou contractant avec l’État, soit l’article 10. Au Québec, la quasi-totalité des entreprises bénéficient de subventions ou de contrat de l’État. La discrimination à l’encontre des minorités religieuses sera donc beaucoup plus étendue que ce que le PQ veut bien avouer.
PQ candidates under investigation for breaking electoral laws
Several PQ party candidates, including Bernard Drainville, the minister responsible for democratic institutions and active citizenship, and former student leader Martine Desjardins, were featured in photos shared on social media that showed them on campus talking with students
An encouraging read, but afraid he is not the most astute observer of the Quebec political scene.
Michael Den Tandt: Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois’ campaign goes from bad to catastrophic in Quebec election
Each miscalculation has piled on the last, making recovery near impossible
31 March
Kyle Matthews: Obstacles to Independence in Quebec
(Open Canada) If the PQ wins the Quebec provincial election, the party will face serious international challenges in holding a referendum.
André Pratte: Odieux
La première ministre, Pauline Marois, a fait savoir hier que son gouvernement songe à ajouter une clause dérogatoire au projet de Charte des valeurs. Un tel article mettrait cette loi à l’abri de toute contestation en vertu de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés.
Jusqu’ici, le gouvernement péquiste se disait convaincu de la constitutionnalité du projet de loi 60, s’appuyant apparemment sur des avis juridiques. Voilà que Mme Marois en est moins sûre: «S’il s’avérait que cette charte puisse être contestée, nous appliquerons la clause dérogatoire».
« Game over » pour Pauline Marois et le PQ — April Fool or April’s Fools?
Que cette sortie médiatique soit motivée par la vengeance ou la rancœur importe peu, l’effet demeure le même : les électeurs retiendront que Pauline Marois et le PQ semblent jouer dans la même cour que le Parti libéral en termes de financement politique. Comme c’est souvent le cas en campagne électorale, les impressions prennent le dessus sur la réalité et c’est ce qui accompagnera chaque citoyen dans l’isoloir la semaine prochaine.
31 March
Julius Grey goes to bat for McGill students denied a vote
One of the students represented in the suit is Matthew Satterthwaite, who was born in Montreal, but moved away at a young age. He returned nearly two years ago to attend McGill University. He phoned the revision office in his Westmount-St-Louis riding. Speaking in French, he was told that his Quebec-issued birth certificate, his Canadian passport and his apartment lease would be sufficient. Satterthwaite, however, decided to test the revision officers by speaking to them in English when he went to the office last Tuesday.
PQ willing to use notwithstanding clause to make sure controversial secular charter becomes law
In the past when defending the values charter, PQ Democratic Institutions Minister Bernard Drainville has said the PQ government would not use the notwithstanding clause, even though Quebec’s human rights commission and the Quebec bar association, which represents the province’s lawyers, have said the charter is unconstitutional because it violates human rights.
People outside Quebec have said they would challenge the values charter and the federal government has already said it will take whatever action is necessary to stop it.
29 March
PQ under fire following reports of construction bid rigging
Liberal leader Philippe Couillard is demanding full financial statements from PQ leader Pauline Marois and CAQ Francois Legault following a report published in the La Presse newspaper Saturday alleging that the Parti Quebecois government accepted kickbacks from construction companies in the 1990s. Financement au PQ: les années 90 scrutées à la loupe
Quebecor companies registered in Delaware prompt questions
Quebec Solidaire says Delaware is a known tax haven
Prior to Québec Solidaire’s press conference, Pauline Marois was asked her opinion on the possibility of PQ candidates having money in tax shelters.
“I would say it’s immoral and they should correct the situation, but I wouldn’t remove them from caucus,” she said.
27 March
Quebec election debate: Philippe Couillard takes a hit
Liberal leader on the defensive for final debate of the election
(CBC) Quebec Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard was leading in the polls going into Thursday’s election debate, but he walked out of the night wounded, after taking hits from all sides.
Record number of Quebecers register to vote out of province
Majority of correspondence votes will come from Florida, a popoular winter destination
A total 18,273 people have registered to vote by correspondence.
Quebec’s Chief Electoral Officer Jacques Drouin said the province hasn’t seen that many out-of-province voters in a general election in the past 25 years.
26 March
Have Quebec’s Liberals really beaten the PQ?
(Globe & Mail) The themes of the campaign are crystallizing. At least two-thirds of Quebeckers do not want a referendum. The Parti Québécois has seen its early lead in the polls evaporate and is now trailing the Liberals. The collapse of the Coalition Avenir Québec’s support suggests a big chunk of the CAQ’s anti-referendum voters are seeking refuge with Philippe Couillard’s Liberals.
Pauline Marois and the Parti Québécois have sought to defuse the anti-referendum backlash by insisting the PQ would not hold such a plebiscite until voters are “ready” for one. The PQ is also trying to shift the debate back to its Charter of Values, but even more so to the question of Liberal integrity. CAQ Leader François Legault says the PQ is no longer the party to beat and also stepping up his attacks on the Liberals to win back lost supporters.
25 March
Trois Rivières – a ‘swing region’ according to Frédéric Laurin
Sur le champ de bataille
La course devrait se jouer entre la CAQ et le PQ dans Trois-Rivières. Du moins, si l’on se fie aux résultats de l’étude comparative des plates-formes économiques des grands partis, réalisée par un professeur en économie de l’UQTR. La lutte est effectivement serrée dans la circonscription. Mais c’est plutôt le PQ et le PLQ qui s’affrontent avec intensité.
Chantal Hébert: PQ descends into paranoia
If the erratically aggressive body language of the PQ is not the result of a panic attack induced by the prospect of a possible defeat, then the first order of business of a re-elected péquiste government should be to have all the mirrors in the national assembly covered so that, post-election, its leading members do not have to look at themselves.
The latest Léger/Journal de Montréal poll, conducted between March 21 and 23, and released late Monday evening, indicates that the PQ is losing ground to the Liberals  33 % to 40 %,  which would give the Liberals a majority government.
Kokulan Mahendiran: The Shocking Way That I Was Denied a Vote in the Quebec Elections
(HuffPost) If my roots in Ontario and the fact that I am an Anglophone are sufficient reasons to deny me the right to vote in the upcoming elections, the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec seems guilty of blatant voter discrimination and repression. There should be an official review of the revision process and there should be an official enquiry into whether the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec (and/or its officials) were in any way influenced by the current government.
23 March
Pas d’irrégularités électorales selon le DGE
(ici.radio-canada) Le Parti québécois a peur que les élections soient volées par le Canada anglais. Mais le directeur général des élections (DGE) affirme que rien n’est anormal.
Depuis quelques jours, certaines circonscriptions montréalaises notent une hausse des demandes d’étudiants anglophones provenant de l’extérieur du Québec.
Samedi, le DGE avait reconnu que cinq circonscriptions à Montréal et en Estrie posaient problème. Il revient maintenant sur ses propos, affirmant que les informations lui avaient été communiquées par un parti politique, qu’il refuse de nommer. Quebec elections office throws cold water on Parti Quebecois voter theory
Paul Wells: Quebec Votes–Depends what you mean by ‘Quebec’
The dispute over who gets to vote is a dispute over who’s a real Quebecer
This election is turning into a referendum, not on Quebec’s constitutional status, but on its mindset. Is the world basically a threat to Quebec, or is it basically not a threat to Quebec? The Marois-Lisée PQ is the party of the siege mentality. Increasingly it is proud of that identity. Fair enough.
PQ accuses students from outside province of trying to steal election
(Globe & Mail) The party held a news conference Sunday morning to demand Quebec’s chief electoral officer closely monitor and report on an influx of young voters – frequently anglophones and members of immigrant communities – trying to register for the vote.
Quebec media have been full of reports in recent days about problems with voter registration. Anglophone media have largely concentrated on voters who claim they were unfairly blocked from voting, while French-language media have concentrated on an “irregular” influx of non-francophone voters in Montreal and Sherbrooke ridings.
22 March
L’inscription de nouveaux électeurs sème le doute dans des bureaux de scrutin montréalais
« Il y a quelque chose d’anormal qui se passe, confie le directeur de scrutin d’une circonscription de Montréal. Le profil démographique des gens qui viennent s’enregistrer à nos bureaux ne correspond pas à la démographie de la circonscription. »
Montreal students told they can’t vote in Quebec election
‘Domicile’ status prevents Dune Desormeaux and Angela Larose from registering to vote
21 March

ThreeHundredEight.com‘s forecasts for the upcoming provincial election in Quebec, scheduled for April 7, 2014. These numbers were last updated on March 21, 2014, and reflect the best estimates as of March 19, 2014, the last day of polls included in the model.
The vote and seat projections in the central columns reflect the best estimates based on the available polling data. The low and high projections are based on the over-estimation or under-estimation of support the polls are likely to make, while the minimum and maximum projections are designed to include 95% of potential outcomes.
Excellent historical perspective
Ralph Surette: Separatism,‘English’ Canada fading in unison, thankfully
What’s amazing about the Quebec sovereignty issue is how it flashes up seemingly out of nowhere, only to drop to a flicker just as quickly. It’s happening again now. The Parti Québécois was way ahead in the polls and expected a cakewalk, only to see its campaign blow up, with the Liberals now pulling ahead at the halfway point.
When it does flash up, a peculiar entity called “English Canada” flashes up with it. Other than in relation to Quebec nationalism, this thing hardly exists. And what remains of it is just a shadow of its former snarling self — the old British colonial mentality bristling with anti-French sentiment. Indeed, as it flashes up this time, it seems mostly made up of media chatterboxes in Ottawa and Toronto. (21 March)
Andrew Coyne: All signs point to floundering PQ campaign
With its campaign imploding, the PQ has fallen back on its one trump card, the values charter. The message, never subtle, has grown increasingly shrill: The Liberals, insists PQ minister Bernard Drainville, “are for the niqab.” There are still two weeks to go, of course. Miracles can happen. But whatever gains the party was likely to wring out of this issue have probably already been achieved. Voters whose priority is the dress worn by civil servants will be with it till the end. The rest, looking at the state of the province’s economy, its finances, its public services, will wonder how a party could become so detached, not only from its ideals, but reality.
David (Jones) Quebec votes: Election result is a long way from a referendum result
Vs
David (Kilgour) Quebec votes: Supporting the PQ agenda a dangerous and expensive gambit
‘We are the traditional democracy of Quebec,’ Couillard says
(Montreal Gazette) There were many hijabs, a few turbans and many visible minorities at a raucous rally in an east end Montreal theatre Friday night for Quebec Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard.
[Earlier] Couillard, Marois and Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault all spoke to a room full of mayors, including Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, promising their municipalities more autonomy and more money for infrastructure, and reaffirming their commitment to address the burden of growing pension-plan costs.
20 March
Martin Patriquin: The winner and loser in tonight’s Quebec election debate
Françoise David won tonight’s Quebec election campaign debate.
Quebec solidaire is just the type of ideology-first party that has exactly zero chance of forming a government in the coming Quebec election.
Which is a shame, because David was excellent. As in 2012, she was the collective conscience of the debate, casually denouncing the cuts to health care under successive Parti Québécois and Liberal governments, railing against the evils of oil exploration and the excesses of the Parti Québécois so-called Quebec values charter—which would bar women wearing religious garb from Quebec’s public service.
David isn’t going to become premier, and so the game is less about how much support she may have gained than which party is most hurt by that gain. As in 2012, the answer is the Parti Québécois.
Couillard, Marois and Legault were as status quo punchy as you’d expect. Couillard, a picture of near-lobotomized calm throughout, gamely dodged the worst of the corruption issue, his party’s Achilles Heel. Legault talked taxes and economy—and had a sound bit-worthy quip to Marois about how you can’t make something (electricity in this case) for nine cents, sell it for four and expect to make a profit. Marois, in the unenviable position of having to defend a hamstringed minority government and the sack of feuding cats that is her caucus, pushed hard on the charter. It’s her party’s last, ugliest card.
But David won. And that hurts Marois more than anyone else.
At Issue: Quebec election debate and Alison Redford’s resignation
19 March
Lysiane Gagnon: How the PQ’s prize candidate became a liability
instead of adding fuel to the PQ campaign, Mr. Péladeau has actually been somewhat of a liability. The wild enthusiasm of sovereigntists, who described him as the saviour who would revive their dream, only served to scare voters.
(Globe & Mail) Mr. Péladeau’s spectacular entrance into the campaign turned it upside down. His fiery call for sovereignty overshadowed the party’s message – which was supposed to cautiously avoid reference to a referendum and exclusively focus on choosing “good government.” This is the only way the PQ has ever won an election, by soft-pedalling the sovereignty issue. In the excitement caused by Mr. Péladeau’s announcement, Ms. Marois herself went off message, cheerfully musing about what a sovereign Quebec would be like – no frontiers, dual citizenship and so on.
18 March
Chris Ragan:
The staggering price of Quebec independence
(Globe & Mail) … everything comes with a price, and there are too many politicians today who pretend that Quebec independence would be costless. Many economic issues matter, from tariffs and passports to banking and railway regulation. I focus here on three of the biggest ones – public debt, fiscal transfers and monetary policy.
Quebec Liberals anchor their platform on $1.3B spending cut
(National Post) A Liberal government would cut spending by $1.3-billion in the first two years of its mandate by growing revenues through infrastructure development and creating a standing committee to rigorously monitor costs, Liberal leader Philippe Couillard said in Bécancour Tuesday.
Outlining the financial framework for his electoral promises, Couillard said his government will not raise taxes, will wrestle down the debt and generate a budget surplus by 2015-2016. Half of that surplus would go to tax reduction and the other half to reducing the long-term debt, he said.
A Liberal government would increase spending on health and education by 4% and 3.5% per year respectively, but would freeze spending in all other departments for five years, Couillard said.
Couillard’s plan is to index the daycare fees starting in January 2015, which would see fees go to about $7.14 a day next year. Depending on the cost of living, the fees would likely not attain even $8 a day within the next five years.
Couillard also promised to eliminate the unpopular health tax gradually over a period of four years starting in 2016.
2014 Quebec Election Projection from ThreeHundredEight.com
The following are ThreeHundredEight.com’s forecasts for the upcoming provincial election in Quebec, scheduled for April 7, 2014. These numbers were last updated on March 18, 2014, and reflect the best estimates as of March 16, 2014, the last day of polls included in the model. Vote and seat projections for each riding.
17 March
Péladeau, un employeur aux nombreux conflits de travail
(Radio Canada) Vérifications faites, après une compilation des statistiques annuelles du ministère du Travail du Québec, on constate que le bilan de Pierre Karl Péladeau en matière de relations de travail est loin d’être reluisant.
Quebec’s debt should be major election issue
Interest payments are consuming a considerable share of government resources that otherwise could go to programs and services that Quebecers care about such as health care and education.
(Ottawa Citizen) It’s now several days into the Quebec election campaign and some key issues are emerging. There has been the usual focus on high profile candidates, speculation about a future referendum, and an ongoing debate about how to accommodate the traditions and cultures of those new to the province.
Yet one issue that has been largely absent from the campaign is the province’s high levels of government debt.
This omission is curious given that the Quebec government’s debt is the largest in the country when presented as a share of the economy and is now consuming a significant share of tax dollars in the form of interest payments. If Quebec voters are concerned about their government’s level of indebtedness, they should insist that the political parties set out clear plans to get it under control. The problem can no longer be ignored.
Quebec’s government debt has grown from $37.6 billion in 199091 to $175.5 billion in 2012-13. This growth in government debt has significantly outpaced growth in Gross Domestic Product, population, and inflation. And it is slated to continue to grow with a return to a balanced budget a couple of years away (Fraser Institute)
15 March
Marian Scott: Worries about the ‘Berlusconization’ of Quebec
Media baron Pierre Karl Péladeau’s leap into politics is not a first in Canadian history. But with media concentration as strong as it is today, can we dare to allow it now?
Celine Cooper: The PQ scrambles to get its campaign back on message
The PQ is scrambling to regain control of its campaign message. It wants to talk about the economy, entrepreneurship, the environment, the values charter; anything but sovereignty, constitutions or referendums, which they call fearmongering.
It’s worth asking why. Sovereignty is supposed be the point of “rassemblement.”
14 March
Stephen Maher: Quebecers should look at balance sheet before they anoint Pierre Karl Peladeau as economic saviour
(Postmedia) In Quebecor’s financial statements in 1996 — the year before the death of PKP’s father, Pierre Peladeau — Quebecor had revenues of $6.2 billion. According to the 2013 financial statements, last year Quebecor had revenues of $4.2 billion, quite a lot less.
PKP has been running Quebecor since 1999, when he bought an American printing company for $2.8 billion, briefly becoming the world’s largest printer.
It was not a good time in the printing business, though, and soon the subsidiary — Quebecor World — was in big trouble.
PKP took over the reins personally in 2004. Spokesman Luc Lavoie said at the time: “He’s the obvious choice to bring the company back to its glory days.”
Or not. In January 2008, Quebecor World filed for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and a lot of shareholders lost a lot of money.
PKP turned his hand to the rest of his empire, which, thankfully for him, had gained in value since a 2000 hostile takeover of Videotron.
If PKP is a business success, it is chiefly as a result of the complex legal, political and financial manoeuvres that brought Quebec’s cable monopoly under his control.
13 March
Henry Aubin: Pierre Karl Péladeau would be ideally qualified to impose post-independence austerity measures
Much is being said about Pierre Karl Péladeau as a future minister in a Parti Québécois government, as a promoter of sovereignty in a referendum and, finally, as a negotiator for Quebec in the event of a victory for the Yes side. But let’s project even further: What would the majority owner of Québecor be like as the leader of an independent Quebec?
Mulroney’s business ties to Peladeau likely to keep him on election sidelines
Brian Mulroney is upset and disappointed by Pierre Karl Peladeau’s decision to run for the Parti Quebecois but is not likely to speak out against his longtime protege’s candidacy because he is a key part of Peladeau’s management team, say people who have spoken to the former prime minister. Mulroney has a fiduciary responsibility to Quebecor shareholders but he is nonetheless in a strange position for a former prime minister, said Norman Spector, who was chief of staff to Mulroney from 1990 to 1992.
“Given the fact that he’s been associated with that company for many years he probably knows the company very well … Mr. Peladeau would feel a degree of reassurance that it won’t all go down the tubes. If all of that is correct, objectively, that puts Brian Mulroney in the position of enabling, facilitating, assisting Peladeau’s current activities.
Social media fueling embarrassments for candidates
(CJAD) Louise Mailloux, the PQ’s candidate who’s trying to win the Gouin riding back from Françoise David and Québec Solidaire, is also in trouble for comments comparing baptism and circumcision to rape — as well as a suggestion that kosher food is used to finance religious wars.
Pauline Marois literally pushes Pierre Karl Peladeau aside as PQ shoves campaign away from independence
12 March
Michael Den Tandt: The Parti Quebecois moves to execute Parizeau’s vision
(Postmedia News)The arithmetic of Quebec separation is devastatingly simple. Eighty per cent of Quebec’s eight million people, roughly speaking, are old-stock francophones. Just under 10 per cent are anglophone. The remainder are allophone. As Parizeau noted that night in 1995, a clear majority of old-stock Quebecers had opted to make their province a country. But because allophones and anglophones overwhelmingly voted to remain Canadian, and because a very significant minority of francophones, 40 per cent, did as well, the “Yes” side lost.
The separatists’ strategy today, it would appear, is to take both money and the “ethnic vote” out of the equation, just as Parizeau suggested, and through Herculean effort, push old-stock support for separation from where it currently sits, at around 50 per cent, to 63 or 65 per cent, which would in turn push overall support for sovereignty above the putatively magical threshold of 50 per cent. Marois’s proposed charter of Quebec values was the signal that immigrant communities were being summarily written off; media magnate Pierre Karl Péladeau’s blockbuster recruitment, the signal that “money” is being brought in-house. It is an unscrupulous strategy, but not unclever. …
Should Marois succeed, the referendum can be expected to take place before the 2015 federal election. Marois, Lisée, Péladeau and the rest can read polls. What better time to hold a plebiscite than when the governing party in Ottawa holds just five Quebec seats? Why risk facing a new federal government under Liberal Justin Trudeau or New Democrat Tom Mulcair, either of which would have much greater federalist heft in Quebec than the Harper Tories have now?
Sovereign Quebec would keep dollar, seek Bank of Canada seat, Marois says
The PQ Leader pointed to several studies on the matter conducted in the early 1990s which showed that their would be no obstacles for an independent Quebec to using the Canadian dollar. However, getting a seat on the Bank of Canada’s Governing Council would be more difficult.
Alain Dubuc — PKP: un bon coup?
(La Presse0 Au premier abord, l’arrivée de Pierre Karl Péladeau dans l’équipe péquiste peut sembler être un très bon coup pour le PQ. Je n’en suis pas sûr. Il est vrai que le recrutement de ce candidat-vedette a fait du bruit et qu’il a permis à la première ministre de gagner la journée de dimanche dans la bataille médiatique.
Mais en recrutant le propriétaire d’un empire médiatique et économique, la question des conflits d’intérêts allait se poser. Pourtant, Pauline Marois et PKP étaient étonnamment mal préparés pour ce débat inévitable.
11 March
PQ will destroy Canada, Quebec Liberal Leader says
Philippe Couillard is making the fiercest stand in defence of Canada in years while Pauline Marois sells the benefits of independence in the first election campaign in a generation to hinge so clearly on sovereignty. Quebec political leaders have rarely engaged in full-throated, two-sided arguments over separation since 1994 . … The usual scenario lately has federalist leaders vaunting their nationalist credentials and separatist leaders trying to reassure voters they’re more interested in good government than sovereignty.
Don Macpherson: Pauline Marois’s recruitment of Pierre Karl Péladeau makes her a lame-duck leader
Her recruitment of Péladeau invites speculation that she will not serve out a four-year term, which makes her a lame-duck leader.
The present PQ ministers believed to have leadership ambitions — Bernard Drainville, Jean-François Lisée and Pierre Duchesne — all swallowed hard and welcomed Péladeau on Twitter.
Top 5 Quebec election surprises so far
(rabble.ca) 5. Expecting the Péladeau candidacy to boost the party to a big win April 7 is to forget about the roots of the party founded by René Lévesque. Péladeau companies have locked out journalists 14 times, Lévesque got his political education leading a Radio-Canada journalist strike.
While Marois focuses on taking support from the business-first CAQ party which wants talk of sovereignty shelved, the very progressive QS salivates at the opportunity for growing its support through labour defections from the PQ camp.
10 March
Andrew Coyne: Rogue Quebec billionaire not so much going into politics as launching a takeover bid
In Mr. Péladeau’s case, the potential for conflict runs both ways: not only that he might use his public position to advance his private interests, but that he might use his private interests to advance his public position. This is hardly a theoretical concern: He is known to take a close hand in how his businesses are run; journalists and others who cross him have often suffered the consequences. His initial impulse to disregard the ethics commissioner is a sign of how unaccustomed he is to being contradicted — a foretaste, perhaps, of what’s to come. If this is the way he carries on now, imagine what he will be like if he ever gets power — that is, if he combines the power he already possesses as a media baron with the power of the state, as a cabinet minister, or even, as many suspect is his real ambition, as premier.
This is crony capitalism taken to the next level, oligarch politics of a kind more usually identified with Russia or Italy, a concentration of power that is not just unwise, but dangerous.
Andrew Cohen: Canada and Quebec, sleepwalking to the abyss
(Ottawa Citizen) The waning concern for Quebec — if real — comes from a more diverse Canada, 20 years removed from the last political cataclysm, unaware of the struggles that have kept this unlikely enterprise together.
Of course, the indifference of English Canada comes in the absence of an adult discussion of the costs of losing Quebec, which represents 23 per cent of the population, 15 per cent of the land and incalculable cultural identity. Or, a discussion of whether Canada itself would survive. As the esteemed Irvin Studin argues, if Quebec goes, Canada will splinter.
John Ibbitson: Harper’s Trade Deal Overshadows Quebec Elections
(CIGI online) In terms of wealth, in terms of population, in terms of political power, Western Canada has become a dominant voice in the national debate. And that voice doesn’t even want to discuss anything as unproductive as Quebec’s future within Canada.
Local Liberal candidates run to curb stagnating economy
9 March
Élections: Denis Coderre se prépare à intervenir
Montréal se prépare à formuler ses revendications dans le cadre de la campagne électorale provinciale.
En entrevue à La Presse Canadienne, le maire Denis Coderre indique qu’il entend faire des demandes «pour le statut de métropole de Montréal», mais aussi pour le «municipal en général».
Media mogul Péladeau to run for Parti Québécois in election
Mr. Péladeau was, until recently, president of Quebecor Media Inc. which controls the Journal de Montréal, TVA television network and Videotron cable company. He stepped down to become the company vice-president in order to sit on the board of Hydro-Quebec when appointed by Premier Pauline Marois.
Mr. Péladeau explained on Sunday that he joined the PQ to help Quebec achieve political independence.
“I am joining the Parti Québécois because I want Quebec to become a country,” Mr. Péladeau said in a statement delivered at a news conference where party leader Pauline Marois announced his candidacy.
Réaction de la FTQ à la candidature de Pierre Karl Péladeau – Le PQ recrute le champion des conflits de travail au Québec !!! “Péladeau acknowledged he has alienated some people during his business career. Fourteen lock outs and the use of scab workers during a two-year job action at Le Journal de Montréal, for example, were cited by the rival party Québec Solidaire as proof the PQ wasn’t a left-wing party at all.” (HuffPost)
Sondage : la majorité péquiste loin d’être acquise
Le Parti québécois devra batailler ferme d’ici les élections du 7 avril prochain s’il veut obtenir le mandat majoritaire qu’il convoite, selon ce que laisse entendre un nouveau sondage CROP-Radio-Canada. Le PLQ demeure un adversaire de taille et la CAQ n’a pas encore signé son arrêt de mort. Some surprising results, but it is early days. (9 March)
8 March
Marois downplays last month’s job losses
(Gazette) Bloomberg News reported Friday that Quebec’s borrowing costs are rising as “independence again becomes an election issue in Canada’s second-largest and most indebted province.”
The spread or extra yield demanded by investors on Quebec’s 10-year-bond over debt from neighbouring Ontario has widened seven basis points to 17 basis points since the bond was issued in December, information compiled by Bloomberg shows.
The spread has widened three basis points since the start of last week. Marois called the April 7 election on Wednesday. Cote de crédit du Québec: Marois se moque de Bloomberg
Graeme Hamilton: As Marois finds out, when you have a separatist party, people are going to ask you about separatism
Asked about the possibility of holding a third referendum on independence if the PQ wins a majority, Ms. Marois said she would not discuss “strategy” in public. “There is no commitment to hold a referendum, but neither is there an engagement not to hold one,” she said. “I think the agenda must be kept open.”
5 March

Quebec election triggered by PQ Premier Pauline Marois

Party leaders begin 33-day election campaign, gear up for April 7 vote
Eighteen months after the Parti Québécois won a minority government, provincial parties are launching a 33-day campaign. (5 March 2014)

Jonathan Kay: If Quebec separates, we keep Montreal
So how should our federal government respond if a referendum is called by a re-elected Parti Québécois? Here are four suggestions:
First, don’t act as if Quebec separation would be some kind of apocalypse. Acting as if Quebec’s departure from Canada is unthinkable destroys our bargaining position on a hundred different issues once the referendum fails. Indeed, such hysteria is a major reason Quebec has built up that annual $16.3-billion bribe.
Second, notwithstanding the paragraph above, let’s not waste our breath lecturing Quebec about the economic fallout of separation. Like all sentimental nationalists, Quebec separatists see independence as a sort of magical elixir. Warning them about dollars and cents is like warning teenage poker players that all those cigars might eventually give them gum cancer.
Third, make NDP leader Thomas Mulcair — and every other soft federalist — tell us clearly whether he or she respects Canadian law. Specifically, the Clarity Act, which defines a valid referendum result as one based on “a clear expression of the will of the population,” expressed through “a clear majority” of voters — as opposed to the bare-bones majority standard of 50%-plus-one, which the NDP has supported since the Jack Layton era.
Fourth, and this is the big one: Have the courage to tell Quebec, flat out, that if Canada is divisible, so is Quebec. And whatever clear voting standard is used to adjudicate the overall result of the province’s referendum will be the same result used to adjudicate the status of the province’s northern Cree regions, the Eastern Townships, and, most importantly, Montreal.
It is fine for jaded Canadians in Toronto and Calgary to say they’re tired of Quebec’s complaints, and that the province can just “go its own way” if it likes. But there are several million people living in Quebec who oppose their provincial government’s separatist agenda, and they may soon be looking to Ottawa for vindication of their rights. In the unlikely event that the separatists win a referendum, the voices of these Canadians must not be ignored.

Antonia Maioni: How Marois’s laser-guided focus on identity tilted the PQ toward a majority
It’s this laser focus on the definition of identity through a secular state, gender equality and shared cultural values that’s locked in the PQ’s appeal to voters who still see the Quebec state as guardian of a distinct status and collective future. The opposition parties’ inability to provide a counterweight may be the most significant outcome of this campaign. And if the PQ wins a majority, it may also prove the most troublesome for Canada.

Here’s an interesting bit of cartoon Canadiana for you in light of the upcoming election in Quebec that will be announced today (and the eventual possibility of yet another referendum). Back in 1998, when there was talk of just that – a possible 3d Quebec referendum – I drew this cartoon of an average person’s reaction to that. (I’ve since added colour to the drawing.) The interesting thing is that, as far as I can determine, it was the first time that the word “shit” was used in an editorial page cartoon of a daily Canadian newspaper. That milestone was a really big deal for me (but then cartoonists have a different value scale than you do about what matters). And no reader’s complained at that time – not one. For your interest, despite trying several times, I can’t get away with using “shit” in a cartoon today. Oh, well, it’s no secret that we all live in brittler times — Terry Mosher

4 March

Lisée perd sa directrice de cabinet adjointe à cause de la Charte
(Québec) La Charte de la laïcité ne fait pas l’unanimité dans le gouvernement péquiste. La chef de cabinet adjointe du ministre Jean-François Lisée, Christine Fréchette, a démissionné vendredi dernier pour ne pas devoir défendre ce projet durant la campagne électorale, a appris La Presse.