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From Election Central

A Quebec election cheat sheet.

Laura Drake 21 Mar 2007TheTyee.ca

Laura Drake is an Ottawa-based reporter.

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Name: André Boisclair
Age: 40
Party: Parti Québécois

A little history: In 1989, Boisclair was elected as the youngest member ever to the Quebec National Assembly. He was a cabinet minister from 1998 until 2003, when he left to attend Harvard, despite not having an undergraduate degree. Boisclair admitted to using cocaine during his ministerial tenure, but the admission only made his popularity surge in Quebec. Boisclair won the party leadership in November 2005, taking over half the votes in a field of eight. At the time of his election, Boisclair was heavily favoured to beat Jean Charest in a provincial vote, but since has slipped in popularity. Though admitting to using blow played well with the electorate, appearing in a French TV parody of Brokeback Mountain did not, upsetting many party loyalists. His attempts to reach out to younger voters has alienated the party's traditional separatist and union bases, sending many voters over to the ADQ.

What if he wins? Part of the PQ's platform is a promise to hold a referendum immediately after being elected. However, Boisclair has said that he would consider a PQ win a vote for sovereignty, and would start the process without holding a vote. He has also publicly said that he would ignore the provisions of the Clarity Act. Boisclair would also be the first openly gay leader in Canada, a fact that has caused controversy in this campaign. A French language radio host, Louis Champagne, called Boisclair "un tapette" -- which roughly translates as "fag" -- and referred to the PQ as "un club de tapettes." Champagne was later made to apologize after being briefly pulled from the air.

Screw ups: Boisclair attracted some unwanted attention when he referred in a speech in Trois Rivières to his surprise at the number of students he saw at Harvard with slanted eyes (les yeux brisés). Despite anger from inside and outside the party, Boisclair later refused to apologize, saying he had made the remarks in French, where the words were not as offensive.

Name: Jean Charest
Age: 48
Party: Quebec Liberal Party

A little history: Born with the English spelling of his own name, Charest took over the beleaguered Progressive Conservative Party after he and Elsie Wayne were the only two PCs elected to the House in the 1993 election following Kim Campbell's brief tenure as prime minister. He ran the party for five years until being pressured to enter provincial politics to save Quebec's beleaguered Liberal party. The Liberals were elected to a majority government in April 2003, ending nine consecutive years of PQ rule. His tenure as premier has been sketchy, with the country's biggest paper calling him the province's most reviled politician. Charest came to such disgrace by raising the cost of day care to $7 a day and imposing work contracts on public sector employees. In the grand tradition of Quebecers nicknaming their premiers, Charest had earned several monikers, including Patapouf, Le Frisé (the curly, in reference to his hair), Le Mouton (the sheep -- also a hair reference) and Golden Boy.

Promises: Charest has promised an additional 20,000 child care spaces to keep up with Quebec's growing population. He has also pledged to reduce income taxes and lift a tuition freeze.

What if he wins? A win for Charest would be seen by many as a victory for Stephen Harper and a boon for his electoral fortunes in the provinces. Charest would likely continue governing in much the same fashion as he has for the previous four years, although he joked this week that if he won, he would buy the Montreal Canadiens.

Screw ups: Early in this campaign, Charest said that if Quebec voted "yes" in a referendum, then the province might be partitioned. Charest immediately claimed he misspoke, though others say he may have done so on purpose to cost the ADQ votes. The Liberals have also used a strange ad campaign with party hopefuls posing in awkward forced "thinking" poses, allowing opponents to take advantage of the French similarities between the words menton (chin) and mentons (which means, essentially, "let's lie").

Name: Mario Dumont
Age: 36
Party: Action Démocratique du Québec

A little history: Dumont was chair of the Quebec Liberal Party's Youth Commission from 1991 until 1992 but became disillusioned with the Liberals after Meech Lake. He founded the right-wing party Action démocratique du Québec/Équipe Mario Dumont which does include Dumont's name in the official registered title, but does not have an official English translation. The party has never actually had official party status, which some say hurt the party in the last election, where the ADQ rode high in the polls until the vote, where they ended up with four seats. It could happen again -- but then again, it might not. Dumont also voted "yes" in the 1995 referendum, but has since been hazy on where he stands on separatism.

Promises: Dumont has promised to get rid of school boards if elected, a pledge that some fear jeopardizes anglophone schooling in the province. His platform also includes a bonanza for child care, promising families $5,200 per year. However, some call the ADQ's platform vague, something Dumont actually defended.

What if he wins? Some conservatives think a Dumont victory would be a right-wing coup in a province known for its left-wing tendencies. However, Dumont is not exactly leading a dream team -- a lot of the adéquistes who were with him in the 2003 election jumped ship to help the federal Conservatives, leaving Dumont with a lot of second-tier candidates. Which leads nicely into...

Screw ups: Dumont has had several public embarrassments at the hands of some of his candidates. First, Jean-François Plante, an ADQ candidate and popular radio host had to step down after criticizing ceremonies commemorating the Montreal massacre --on International Women's Day, no less. Not long after, a second candidate was fired after he called on Quebecers to boost their birth rate in order to avoid being swamped by ethnics.  [Tyee]

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