Compass sucked federally and it sounds like it still sucks.
quebec election - 04.09.2012
Thu, 2012-08-09 14:02
#52
Thu, 2012-08-09 16:04
#53
Boom Boom
This prick sounds worse than Harper: Francois Legault Wants Kids To Stay At School Until 5 p.m.
Thu, 2012-08-09 16:08
#54
knownothing
This prick sounds worse than Harper: Francois Legault Wants Kids To Stay At School Until 5 p.m.
I know. I gotta bad feeling about him. "Une homme de la situation"
Thu, 2012-08-09 18:45
#55
Boom Boom
Evan Solomon made reference tonight to a poll that showed CAQ in first place. Didn't get the name of the pollster, nor the date. Also made reference to more arrests today in Quebec's construction industry, some speculation by the panelists that this will definitely hurt Charest, but Tom (the prick) Flanagan said since the arrests are early in the campaign, Charest can probably survive.
Fri, 2012-08-10 09:34
#56
According to the survey conducted by Léger Marketing for the Montreal daily Le Devoir, the PQ has the support of 32 per cent of voters, the Liberals 31 per cent and the CAQ 27 per cent, a six-point jump from the previous poll for Leader François Legault’s new party since the campaign was launched on Aug. 1.
. . . .
The polling firm CROP also gives a slim overall lead to the PQ. The survey, conducted for the Gesca group of newspapers including La Presse and Le Soleil, shows the PQ at 32-per cent, the Liberals at 29 per cent and the CAQ at 21 per cent.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/elections/parti-qubcois-edg...
Fri, 2012-08-10 10:59
#57
a summer campaign/election, with oddly distributed voter turnout + new faces/new party + old faces/old parties
= NDP 2011-type electoral tsunami?
CAQ progress sounds suspiciously like early April 2011 NDP numbers that no one believed.
But they would have to jump forward quite a bit, perhaps stealthily. Ya never know.
Fri, 2012-08-10 13:10
#58
I'm trying to imagine "kids" (and especially teenagers) having to stay in school until 5pm!!! Doesn't he realise what that would do during the evening rush hour? The buses and métros are full of kids (older children and especially teens) from about 3:30 - how could they accomodate all of them and the majority of people returning home from work?
I guess he never takes the métro, except of course to gladhand (like Marois).
I've often run into Françoise David or Amir Khadir on public tranport (though Khadir drives a car as well, as his hospital is outside Montréal) and on their bicycles. Khadir has an old Raleigh like mine - yes, of course as a medical specialist he could afford a fancy new one (and might well have one for touring) but he understands that such bicycles are a magnet for thieves in central urban areas.
I live in David's riding and just north of Amir's.
Fri, 2012-08-10 13:59
#59
love is free
i wish solidaire were doing better at this point. instead of harping on populist issues and trying to promote the party as a real alternative, they're using those cringe-inducing cartoons to explain to people that, yes, they're actually as radical as you've heard. the feminism one, though obviously well-intentioned, was just over labored, there was absolutely no reason even to broach the man vs woman notion. the beaver one was just jaw-droppingly bad politics, tone deaf and unnecessary. i was coming into this campaign enthusiastic about the party's chances of adding more seats, now most of that enthusiasm is gone, as the reality has set in that the leaders want to win on terms that very few people (i guess the 5% in polls) want to elect a representative on.
as for the recent polling, it's scary. with low numbers like this for all the parties, it feels like when the surf gets sucked out just before the waves crashes. at this point, we know that it won't be a solidaire wave, and that smart money is that it isn't a pq or plq wave, as those parties and leaders are just too well known. legault is the logical apotheosis of quebec inc and the lucidaires' manifesto, and it's terrifying to me to wonder at what a majority caq government would mean.
Fri, 2012-08-10 14:09
#60
The beaver cartoon was an answer to the much-heard criticism from the PQ that QS are "closet federalists". I didn't like it either. Their ads with the candidates in their respective ridings are much better. I confess that I find the idea of kicking an innocent animal, even in a cartoon, is most unfunny. There are much more appropriate symbols, such as Harperland becoming a petro-state.
The man and woman one was a waste of space, because it targets "men's rights" (masculiniste) nuts and shock-jock radio listeners. Those are rightwingers who would never vote QS anyway.
Fri, 2012-08-10 15:13
#61
I agree heartily with the last two posts. QS is losing its way in this campaign. And François Legault = Lucien Bouchard. I know lots of independentists who voted NDP in 2011. I know progressives who voted ADQ in 2007. Anything could happen this time. My only consolation is that if we do something stupid, we will reverse it next time - but how much damage will a Legault and his rich buddies do in the meantime? I wouldn't trust him with the balance of power, let alone a minority or majority government.
QS has to reach out to everyone and stop the foolishness of being defensive.
Fri, 2012-08-10 15:38
#62
love is free
not just defensive, but out to lunch. the economics plan released yesterday/today is a better start, but those cartoons have to stop and, if possible, be removed from the internet. leftist parties need to run on their strengths, and in quebec that means environmentalism (none of the other parties are credible on that), social solidarity (only the pq is somewhat credible on that one) and on more money for cities. big ticket promises - fully funded tram systems for quebec and montreal and a quebec-ottawa hsr plan as pre-conditions to supporting a minority government, for instance; a green belt for montreal to hem in further sprawl; mulcairs triple-e standard written into law - these are things that the left is very credible on, and also things that motivate people to vote. callling the platform something like "solidaire social contract", with a set of rights and responsibilities that outline all of what the progressive left believes, that's enough, no need for these damned cartoons that manage to put everyone off.
realistically, solidaire is fighting for a few montreal seats, the party ought to be embracing its urban-centrism and speaking to urban voters in terms of concrete improvements to their lives, not engaging in mostly abstract moralizing. amazing that with all the electoral experience these folks have, they could come out so weakly.
Fri, 2012-08-10 19:09
#63
The latest cartoon is even worse - "Est-ce QS est communiste?' One shouldn't even raise that Quebecor-fuelled issue.
I dislike the voice as well. No, I don't want the voiceover to be in so-called "Parisian French" (which practically nobody in Paris speaks either), but the voice actually has some "populaire" mispronunciations such as toutte for tout (masculine) ... C'est toutte. I can't stand such populism unless one is portraying a person who would speak that way. It is very paternalistic.
Fri, 2012-08-10 19:52
#64
Boom Boom
Charest - Marois - Legault - we're doomed. 
Fri, 2012-08-10 20:56
#65
love is free
not to disagree too stringently, but that's a pretty popular quebec accent, i don't hear any gaullicisms. but seriously, the communist one is totally unnecessary, just totally the wrong way to approach this campaign. people don't naturally assume that any party is communist, they just don't assume that. if there's any such assumption among a cadre of the population, it's because of the recklessness of previous qs language and lit. really sort of depressing. unfortunately, virtually the only coverage of the qs so far has been of amir's re-election in mercier, speculation about the party's hopes of electing david in gouin, and these cartoons. nothing else.
Sat, 2012-08-11 08:54
#66
Legault knows the NDP 2011 precedent of sneaking past 2 unpopular old-party options,
at this point I would not bet against him:
“I think people’s perception of the Coalition is completely changing. Before, they would say, ‘I don’t like Charest, I don’t like Marois, but can I have confidence in the Coalition’s team? I’m not sure,’ ” Mr. Legault said. “Now they say, ‘Fair enough, they have a team.’ ”
His team is crucial, because Mr. Legault is unlikely to win a charisma contest. The former PQ cabinet minister was persuaded that Quebec was ready for a new party in part by the results of last year’s federal election, in which the previously invisible NDP swept Quebec and reduced the once-dominant Bloc Québécois to four seats. There was a desire for change. But the NDP had Jack Layton, for whom Quebecers fell head-over-heels, and Mr. Legault is no Jack Layton.
Sat, 2012-08-11 10:04
#67
Boom Boom
"...There was a desire for change. But the NDP had Jack Layton, for whom Quebecers fell head-over-heels, and Mr. Legault is no Jack Layton."
I don't know much about Legault, but that sounds like an understatement to me. 
Sat, 2012-08-11 13:51
#68
autoworker
Some may conclude that Legault can be no worse than Charest. Legault, Marois, Charest: the choice may yet be determined by the debates. The election itself will be decided, as usual, in the regions. The sturm und drang happening in isolated districts of Montreal is, unlike the GTA in Ontario, more or less a spectacle of its own self-importance. Legault currently has both the attention of the electorate, and the momentum. The question is whether he can close the deal
Sat, 2012-08-11 15:52
#69
love is free
weekend round-up then, at least, in very broad terms. everyone is talking about the enormous deficit that charest is facing in his home riding of sherbrooke (HAH! he lives in westmount, but i digress), as the local paper of record has him trailing by 15 points, a seemingly hopeless number. he's not even campaigning there, however, focusing on the leader's tour and assuming that if he achieves what he wants there, that he'll win out in sherbrooke like he always does. threehundredeight.com has an account of the sharp divide between what polls suggest (tight pq/plq race, gaining caq) with how that breaks down in terms of seats into a near-majority for the pq, based on distribution of support and charest's incredibly concentrated anglophone/allophone support. also, the first teevee spots are out:
the pq's first teevee spots are pretty good, tackling health and natural resource exploitation. there's a certain warmth to these that i like and that i think is cultivated to elicit a predisposition to accept the message. certainly, the second one is more comical than the first, and quebec has quite an extensive recent history of light-hearted or droll political advertising.
meanwhile, the caq has a pretty strong anti-corruption spot that introduces the team and stays pretty upbeat. very well-played, i think, with a good cross-section of right-wing types that'll appeal to a lot of non-urban professional types. i mean, you have heads of companies, the head of the medical association, and the legendary duchesneau (police chief, mayoral candidate, anti-corruption czar) all talking about how they want to clean up the province, capped by legault's "and we can do it because we don't owe anyone anything". scarily effective, brrr.
finally, the plq's first television spot is 100% charest, 100% economic leadership. the french version is identical to the english version. bare bones straightforward that, though i just don't find it effective compared with those of the caq and the pq. definitely targeted at people not in my demographic.
Sun, 2012-08-12 07:24
#70
thanks for the wrap-up:
3-way races are very difficult to predict, cf. federal election 2011 in Quebec
a gain of 2-3 per cent for CAQ could make it a minority govt. -- a loss of 2-3 per cent could wipe it out, given the many close races
Sun, 2012-08-12 10:38
#71
love is free, I think you misread me about the accent. I re-read what I wrote and thought it was fairly clear. I wasn't saying the voice had a Parisian or Français de France accent, on the contrary, I thought it was fakey populism, which doesn't fly any more.
Now there is a real kerfuffle about Pauline Marois (obviously targeting Gaëtan Barrette, who is a medical specialist, and extremely obese), saying that a future Minister of Health should look as if he practised healthy habits. I don't like Barrette (who has fully admitted that he was too heavy and overate and was not very physically active or fit), but it is a low blow. In our sexist society, it is also a stupid one, as while Marois is certainly not obese, she is also not slender à la Christine Lagarde. (Most women of our cohort aren't)...
In general, references to people's physique are in very poor taste, and can be outright discrimination. True, it is tempting in the case of someone like Rob Ford, who defends (sedentary) driving and attacks (active) cyclists, like the problem of "outing" public homophobes as closet gay people. But I don't think it applies here, as Dr Barrette has certainly never advocating eating too much rich food or avoiding exercise.
Sun, 2012-08-12 15:23
#72
love is free
in fairness, marois let that one slip in response to a direct question by a reporter, something to the effect of "your potential health minister here looks very fit, do you think it's important that health ministers maintain a lifestyle that could serve as exemplary?" - to which she made the comments about the "healthy lifestyle" that enraged the obese barrette.
also very very interesting - ie. now we're talking - marois has come out with a straight-up promise to cancel to tuition fee increase and repeal the law 78 criminalizing protests, aiming to resolve the student strike on her first day in office. as for solidaire, they've proposed shifting funding to make the clsc clinics 24/7, which is a great example of qs finally understanding who their clientele is (montreal) and the sorts of proposals they need to put out there to connect with that clientele. it's also just a straight-up good idea, at least for urban areas - in quebec, the clsc is the government-funded health clinic, we don't have enough of them, and when they're open, they're jammed with people.
finally, legault and the caq drop a strongly anti-montreal platform that would smash borough-level govenment, eliminate local representation, prioritize suburban development, and basically eliminate the possible efficacy of local-level activism. brrr. this guy is like bane from the new batman film.
tremblay: "what are you?"
blegault: "i'm montreal's reckoning."
Sun, 2012-08-12 16:17
#73
Yes, I think a lot of this will play out in Montréal and the immediate suburbs - and Laval and Longueuil are both "urbanising" to quite a degree - the metro extension to Laval has brought much denser development around the three new stations, and there are bicycle lanes now near Montmorency (where there is also a Cégep).
Though it looks like Charest stands to lose his Sherbrooke seat as well!!!
24h CLSCs would do much to stop people showing up at hospital emergencies for ailments and injuries that do not require hospital care (and make triage easier for those that do).
I'm not surprised to learn that Marois' healthy-lifestyle comment was a slip; she will need to be more careful about that kind of thing.
Mon, 2012-08-13 04:39
#74
Marois , like PQ predecessors Landry and Parizeau, lets drop a surprising number of stupid and ill-considered one-liners that end up haunting them;
in her case, I just think she is not up to the job and would be a dreadful, divisive, alienating Premier;
a thesis: the quality of PQ leaders has dropped progressively since the 1970s as the decades have gone on; at one point I would have knocked on doors (hate that) or even run around the Island of Montreal barefoot if needed to support René Lévesque
-- but Marois, uggh 
Mon, 2012-08-13 16:27
#75
love is free
"marois, uggh"?
marois commits to a tax credit for parents enrolling their children in artistic activities; marois wants to complete the network of daycares and freeze the cost at $7/year for the next four years; marois rejects the heinous attacks on the metropolis that legault is campaigning on.
she gets it. the one point where it's pretty clear that the pq is really out to lunch is on the french in the workplace regulations and the french cegep rules. the first will force the sorts of auditing of workplace language that no country anywhere does, it would discourage investment, and hamper companies' competitiveness with canada and other places. the second will just see the wealthier and savvier types working/paying around the problem, while poorer francophones are forced into mono-lingualism and the cycle of lower pay that comes with it. they have to be aware of the consequences, and i think it's a sort of collective myopia that pushes that forward, something i doubt marois really strongly supports.
Mon, 2012-08-13 19:05
#76
But there has been a real problem with "anglicisation" of Montréal in recent years. I've been to shops in Complexe Desjardins of all places where staff addresses customers in English first.
I don't think she has the best solutions (neither does the majority in Québec solidaire) but we do think that there is a real problem.
Mon, 2012-08-13 20:09
#77
autoworker
But there has been a real problem with "anglicisation" of Montréal in recent years. I've been to shops in Complexe Desjardins of all places where staff addresses customers in English first.I don't think she has the best solutions (neither does the majority in Québec solidaire) but we do think that there is a real problem.
So what? Perhaps she's addressing a regular customer, or an American tourist. Then again, perhaps she just wants to practice her English that she was prohibited from learning in school. Personally, I think it may be that not everyone buys into the PQ's bigotry.
Mon, 2012-08-13 20:11
#78
Could we kindly stop this before it turns into a shouting match?
Mon, 2012-08-13 20:39
#79
autoworker
Could we kindly stop this before it turns into a shouting match?
Who's shouting? If you object, fine. But I'm entitled to my opinion.
Mon, 2012-08-13 23:12
#80
Yes, but PQ bigotry?
I am not a PQ supporter or voter, never have been. But the language law is in large part the product of TRADE UNION STRUGGLES here, and workers fighting not only for the right to work in French, but the right to negotiate in French.
#@$%?& had no way of knowing what language I spoke; I wasn't speaking anything, didn't have a French, English or other publication under my arm, and I'm certainly not a stereotypically tall, blondish or pink-skinned anglo type.
Under the law here, customers are first addressed in French. (That is, er, affirmative action in a sea of English). And there is no prohibition on learning English in schools. All pupils have to study the opposite official language.
Could this so-called "autoworker" be a covert angryphone? The Ontario autoworkers we met at Québec 2001, on the contrary, were thrilled to interact with their comrades in Québec and not at all "angryphones". I still have one of their red scarves!
Tue, 2012-08-14 00:16
#81
With the preface that I totally respect why language is a justifiably important subject in Quebec...
I remember the time I visited a friend in Campbellton, NB where the vast majority of locals are bilingual. Everyone has a language of choice but there are basically no language politics. When you walk into the store you are addressed in whichever language they want to use. You respond in the one you want to use. If one of you is a unilingual visitor, the other will shift without the slightest hesitation or negativity. If you walk around the store and come back to the same person, they may forget your language choice and switch back, but it doesn't seem to bother anyone. I was eating at a Subway and watched a customer order everything in English, with the staff responding entirely in French, and it was perfectly natural and habitual.
I thought it was very cute. And it made me wish there were more places in Canada where we'd have a very innocent, natural bilingual culture without any hard feelings. But I understand why it's not that way in Quebec.
Tue, 2012-08-14 00:51
#82
love is free
yeah, even where you'd expect it around the outaouais, it's not like that. ottawa anglos are often really hostile to people ordering in french, and francophones in hull vice versa.
getting back to the relevant topic and away from pointless discussions of language politics that belong in other threads, the plq's following the pq's call for a veto on foreign acquisitions of a certain scale, following the rona issue. http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/elections-quebec-2012/201208/13/01-456...
Tue, 2012-08-14 05:46
#83
"marois, uggh"?
marois commits to a tax credit for parents enrolling their children in artistic activities; marois wants to complete the network of daycares and freeze the cost at $7/year for the next four years; marois rejects the heinous attacks on the metropolis that legault is campaigning on.
she gets it. the one point where it's pretty clear that the pq is really out to lunch is on the french in the workplace regulations and the french cegep rules. the first will force the sorts of auditing of workplace language that no country anywhere does, it would discourage investment, and hamper companies' competitiveness with canada and other places. the second will just see the wealthier and savvier types working/paying around the problem, while poorer francophones are forced into mono-lingualism and the cycle of lower pay that comes with it. they have to be aware of the consequences, and i think it's a sort of collective myopia that pushes that forward, something i doubt marois really strongly supports.
We agree on the tightening of Bill 101; let sleeping dogs lie, the public is generally at ease. No need for more early-90s type squabbling again. But PM is committed to bringing that on.
And yes, even a bad leader will generally have some good policies, no question, and I had generally voted PQ before Landry, who turned me off totally.
Tue, 2012-08-14 06:05
#84
autoworker
yeah, even where you'd expect it around the outaouais, it's not like that. ottawa anglos are often really hostile to people ordering in french, and francophones in hull vice versa.
getting back to the relevant topic and away from pointless discussions of language politics that belong in other threads, the plq's following the pq's call for a veto on foreign acquisitions of a certain scale, following the rona issue. http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/elections-quebec-2012/201208/13/01-456...
Language politics belongs in this thread because Pauline Marois made intolerance an election issue.
Tue, 2012-08-14 07:49
#85
Intolerance? To whom? (I don't agree with all of Marois' ideas, in terms of how to improe the French Language Charter, but I don't think they are "intolerant").
The worst form of intolerance anywhere on this election spectrum lies with Charest's Plan Nord, once again barrelling into the Far North without really asking the Indigenous populations first. (Oh, I'm sure the PQ and CAQ could do the same, but it happens to be the Libs this time).
Tue, 2012-08-14 08:44
#86
then we disagree; Marois does have leave a whiff of intolerance,
unlike, say, René Lévesque cited above as a youthful hero, or Gérald Godin, who as PQ minister of cultural communities was friends with everybody and moved his political agenda without making it an us vs. them issue as Marois is doing, I think intentionally
Tue, 2012-08-14 12:17
#87
love is free
an interesting healthcare debate - i've never seen anything like this before - between the designated health ministers in all four parties, doctors all: http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/elections-quebec-2012/201208/14/01-456...
Tue, 2012-08-14 12:19
#88
Boom Boom
Plan Nord is a terrible, terrible program - as is the Romaine Hydro Project - both will run roughshod over aboriginal treaty rights. I was the Administrator of the Facebook group Alliance Romaine for two years, in a week or two one of their activists will be staying here with me for a few weeks, to try to gauge local reaction to the project.
Unfortunately, the provincial Liberals are masters of lying propaganda, and many folks here believe Plan Nord is the reason we are finally getting a road connecting to the mainland and the provincial road network - forgetting that this is a promise reaching back to 1944 - 60 years before any planning went into Plan Nord!
Tue, 2012-08-14 12:40
#89
Boom Boom
Speaking of the road and other issues here...
(I serve on the board of the Coasters with author Tony Dumas)
Tue, 2012-08-14 14:46
#90
Very interesting. But although there are more anglophones than francophones in this region, aren't "most" inhabitants Innu speakers?
In general I am opposed to road development and its attendant sprawl, but here the road is a question of equity, health access and availability of nutritious and affordable food year-round. It would certainly boost tourism - many tourists make it as far as Natashquan, but no farther.
Tue, 2012-08-14 15:03
#91
Boom Boom
The Innu are centered in La Romaine and St. Augustine. That leaves quite a few other communities with very few Innu residents. However, many Innu also speak French.
Tue, 2012-08-14 15:30
#92
Yes, I know. But fortunately, I think almost all (at least in their own communities) still speak their mother tongue.
Tue, 2012-08-14 16:12
#93
In general I am opposed to road development and its attendant sprawl, but here the road is a question of equity, health access and availability of nutritious and affordable food year-round. It would certainly boost tourism - many tourists make it as far as Natashquan, but no farther.
I think with projects like this the most important question is the real motivation, not speculation about possible benefits.
There was a similar project back in the 90s proposed for the east side of Lake WInnipeg in Manitoba, with talk of benefits like tourism and year-round access to First Nations (which is at best a double-edged sword). What was it really about? Pulling out pulpwood, and the side effect of exposing woodland caribou to diseases spread by deer.
Fortunately that project is dead, for now. As it happens, one of the few roadblocks back then was that a road crossing a river meant a federal approval process under Fisheries and Oceans, so thankfully the whole thing was not in the hands of one provincial government.
/thread drift
Tue, 2012-08-14 21:51
#94
I see in the Hill Times that
Political aide Geneviève April, who worked in the office of NDP MP François Pilon (Laval-Les Îles, Que.), has taken a leave of absence and is now running in the provincial riding of Sainte-Rose as a Liberal.
I'm not surprised. Mulcair used to say there were three NDP members in Charest's cabinet. Are there any other active NDP members running for Charest?
Tue, 2012-08-14 23:09
#95
Boom Boom
I find it hard to understand the appeal of Charest's Liberals to anyone from the NDP. If you win your seat, you're effectively denying everything the NDP stands for.
Tue, 2012-08-14 23:33
#96
I find it hard to understand the appeal of Charest's Liberals to anyone from the NDP. If you win your seat, you're effectively denying everything the NDP stands for.
Well, the thing with grand coalitions is that they're big teeter-totters. People want to stand on it somewhere in hope that it will pivot their way. This is how you end up with someone like Joyce Murray joining the BC Liberals under Gordon Campbell, and then going to the federal Liberals to crow about progressive alternatives to Harper. This is how someone like Louis Plamondon ended up running for Brian Mulroney's PCs. Or Legault in the PQ. Or the brief flirtation Marlene Jennings had with running for the CAQ. Or Roseanne Skoke in the federal Liberals. And so it goes.
I think it's fair to say that Mulcair did not believe in everything Charest stood for when he ran under him.
There is also the long game. If Charest should fail to take government in this election, there will most certainly be a leadership review. Will the next leader necessarily be from the right side of the party? Will anglophone voters follow a grand federalist coalition to wherever they are on the political spectrum, if someone quite unlike Charest replaces him? Perhaps some folks are positioning themselves in the LPQ to rise up and support a more progressive challenger in the event that Charest is sent packing.
Wed, 2012-08-15 00:02
#97
Wed, 2012-08-15 01:20
#98
Boom Boom
"...As for a Quebec wing, Maioni said the NDP would really need to come up with a meaningful reason for why it should be on the provincial scene.
“Is the purpose to ensure that the NDP brand is prevalent and recognizable and there could be a boost for the federal party . . . Is it to have a credible federalist alternative in Quebec,” she asked."
How about: QS is going nowhere, Quebecers have already emnbraced the NDP federally, and Quebec needs a progressive party to run against the three right wing parties?
Wed, 2012-08-15 05:53
#99
Marois is just about the worse leader I could imagine for the PQ.
She is bad. Time will tell if she is Landry-bad or just Parizeau-bad.
Meaning, incompetent and obnoxious or competent and obnoxious.
Sometimes you have to daydream about the first, All Star PQ cabinet of 1976: René Lévesque, Laurin, Morin/Morin, Parizeau, Landry, Payette, Charron, Godin etc., and wonder why so many turned out that way. René excepted of course.
To sum up:
* René died with honour fall of 1987, coming up to 25th anniversary
(but for me it is still Dorchester Blvd.)
* Gérald Godin suffered a tragedy and went downhill, dying young.
The rest:
* boy wonder Claude Charron self-destructed with shoplifting incident mid 1980s;
* Lise Payette turned into anti-immigrant crank in mid 1990s;
* Claude Morin revealed as double agent for feds;
* Landry caught in various outburst(s), an embarassment to all;
* Parizeau ("don't trust anything he says after 5pm": Richler) spoke after 9pm on referendum night 1995, with disastrous results.
* Dunno what happened to either Camille Laurin or Jacques-Yvan Morin.
Wed, 2012-08-15 07:25
#100
Intolerance? The worst form of intolerance anywhere on this election spectrum lies with Charest's Plan Nord...
Not to be outdone I'm guessing, but isn't the PQ promising an edict which would ban the display of religious symbolism from public service? It's about time someone attempted to get a handle on in-your-face Catholicism. Or are the 'ethnics' at it again?
Wed, 2012-08-15 08:44
#101
The last thing we need is the kind of intestine struggle within the Québec left if the NDP tries to field candidates against QS. Don't forget that many, many QS members and supporters worked for the NDP campaigns here. They (we) were certainly instrumental in the campaign of my standing MP, Alexandre Boulerice.