Canada's coup d'etat: Opposition parties join to overthrow gov't (Part 2)

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by CrONoS


I don't need to tell you that there is a difference between the number of seat you won and the proportion of votes. (Edited: In 1998 PLQ lose even if their were having more votes count)

While the PQ votes didn't really moved, there was some movement between the ADQ and PLQ. I think people thought ADQ would lose even more seat. Specially in the region of Quebec City.

I'm not sure what you are trying to tell me. Are you saying the results of the election were predicted within a seat or two?

Did the Liberals poll as well as they were expected to? Did some stay home?

Did the PQ exceed expectations? Was this entirely because of the melt-down of the ADQ, or partially due to events in Ottawa?

Or did Quebec behave as if Ottawa was on a different planet? I find this difficult to accept if this is what you are suggesting.

[Richelieu]

Originally posted by CrONoS

My friends started this party: I'll help him in my free times. I'm the official agent of the party.

At least it's a small step.

http://www.votons-prpm.com/fr/accueil.php

Just for starters, you should get them to change the first sentence: "Étant désabusé de la réforme électorale qui traîne en long et en large". They should change it to "traine en longueur". If they're going to use an expression they should use only one, not a mix of two.

[KrazyHorse]

Or did Quebec behave as if Ottawa was on a different planet? I find this difficult to accept if this is what you are suggesting.

The PLQ and Federal Liberals are two wholly separate entities in most Quebecers' minds.

I don't find it at all hard to believe that what was going on in Ottawa had almost no effect on the provincial elections.

[CrONoS]

Originally posted by notyoueither


I'm not sure what you are trying to tell me. Are you saying the results of the election were predicted within a seat or two?

Did the Liberals poll as well as they were expected to? Did some stay home?

Did the PQ exceed expectations? Was this entirely because of the melt-down of the ADQ, or partially due to events in Ottawa?

Or did Quebec behave as if Ottawa was on a different planet? I find this difficult to accept if this is what you are suggesting.

1) Looking at the trends of poll. The Dion-Harper conflict in Ottawa apparently didn't change anything on vote intention.

2) Newspaper were predicting more seat for the PLQ (at the same % of votes). I didn't look the data, but I think PQ and ADQ won over the PLQ by slight margin in many circumscription.

[notyoueither]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081209.wquebecsub09/BNStory/politics/home

Charest struggles to slim majority
Liberal Leader wins third mandate; Parti Québécois becomes Official Opposition; Mario Dumont resigns ADQ leadership

LES PERREAUX , RHÉAL SÉGUIN and INGRID PERITZ
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
December 9, 2008 at 4:28 AM EST

SHERBROOKE, QUE., QUEBEC CITY, MONTREAL — Quebeckers chose the promise of a steady hand under Jean Charest and rejected right-wing populism yesterday, electing Liberals to a narrow majority and rare third term while sending Mario Dumont packing from provincial politics.

Mr. Charest failed to win the easy majority that was projected before election day, holding just three seats more than the 63 needed as late returns rolled in.

Mr. Dumont's Action démocratique du Québec fell all the way from Official Opposition to losing official party status, winning fewer than 10 seats and taking a popular vote well beneath the 20 per cent official party threshold.

Mr. Dumont announced he would step down as leader.

"I would have liked to receive a better result. I assume full responsibility for that. And I will not be at the head of my party in the next general election," Mr. Dumont said. "The time has come to turn the page and return to my loved ones."

As the founder and long-time heart of the ADQ, Mr. Dumont's departure will leave his party's future in doubt.

"I'm shocked," said Gérard Deltell, a newly elected ADQ member.

"We have tough decisions to make in the next few days. I'm speechless."

The Parti Québécois made a late surge to capture 51 seats and about 35 per cent of the popular vote - just seven points behind the Liberals.

The surprise rise of the PQ may have roots in Ottawa, where a virulent Conservative campaign against the "separatists" supporting a Liberal-NDP coalition may have spurred soft Quebec nationalists to register their displeasure at the ballot box.

"I am proud of the campaign we delivered together," PQ Leader Pauline Marois said with evident relief after her party's unexpectedly strong showing.

The crowd chanted, "We want our country," prompting a quick reply by Ms. Marois: "It is certain we will one day achieve it.

"But today we form the strongest opposition since the Quiet Revolution," Ms. Marois said.

While voters settled on the stability of the province's traditional mix of two official parties as they head into a period of prolonged economic anxiety, a new front opened on the left. The sovereigntist Québec solidaire's candidate Amir Khadir defeated Daniel Turp in a traditional PQ stronghold.

Mr. Charest spent the last two weeks of the election campaign arguing federal turmoil showed the need for stability in times of economic uncertainty. He also pledged to badger Ottawa for aid for the forestry and manufacturing sectors along with a big chunk of promised infrastructure money. The demands are sure to figure prominently as Mr. Charest's government seeks concessions from a divided federal Parliament.

With his slim majority margin, Mr. Charest will need to forge an iron discipline in his own ranks to get things done.

"In this period of economic uncertainty, Quebeckers understood the need for political stability and chose to elect a majority Liberal government," Mr. Charest said in a speech last night. "I will be the Premier of all Quebeckers."

Mr. Charest is the first Quebec premier to win three consecutive elections since Maurice Duplessis won his fourth mandate in 1956. It's a feat of longevity Quebec political greats like Jean Lesage, René Lévesque and Robert Bourassa never managed, although Mr. Bourassa won two mandates in the early 1970s and again in the 1980s.

Mr. Charest called a snap election despite widespread voter disapproval about going to the polls so early after a federal election. The Liberal leader was willing to risk the quick election because he feared the anticipated recession would create discontent and jeopardize his chances at being re-elected. He ran a low-key frontrunner's campaign, staying as far from trouble as he could until Ottawa's fallout landed in Quebec.

"He was the Teflon man. Nothing stuck to him," said Antonia Maioni, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. "He was just on the whole time. He didn't have an off day."

The election was a test of Ms. Marois's strategy to sideline sovereignty as a campaign theme. The move was seen as savvy at a time when Quebeckers have shown indifference toward the issue; the wild card was whether the strategy would alienate the PQ's traditional base. Instead, Prime Minister Stephen Harper may have helped reinvigorate it.

"Quebeckers saw Mr. Harper's actions as an attack against Quebec, and turned to the party that it saw as best placed to defend Quebeckers' interests," said PQ member Bernard Drainville, who was re-elected.

Last night's vote also marked a major breakthrough for the left-wing Québec solidaire. The Iranian-born Mr. Khadir is active in community and humanitarian causes such as Médecins du Monde. The riding includes the bohemian Plateau Mont Royal district and is known for its iconoclastic bent at the ballot box; voters there elected poet Gérald Godin for the PQ in 1976, thereby defeating former Liberal leader Robert Bourassa.

"This gives hundreds of thousand of Quebeckers hope that another Quebec is possible," Mr. Khadir said to a cheering crowd after being declared the winner in the downtown Montreal riding of Mercier.

Mr. Dumont held on to a mere seven seats, a crushing setback for his ADQ, which was wiped clean from Montreal suburbs - the scene of a major breakthrough in 2007. The party clung to a few seats in the Quebec City region, where federal Tories are also strong. Mr. Dumont brought dozens of rookie members of the legislature to Quebec City after the ADQ's stunning advance in 2007, and he admitted in the midst of the election campaign that he made mistakes.

A lacklustre campaign that triggered little public interest brought out 54 per cent of eligible voters, the lowest turnout in decades.

[KrazyHorse]

The Parti Québécois made a late surge to capture 51 seats and about 35 per cent of the popular vote - just seven points behind the Liberals.

This is nonsense. Polling through all of october and november showed the PQ with 32-35% and the PLQ with 41-46%. The final results were well within the margin of error of all of these polls.

Whoever wrote that is a ****ing moron (or just somebody who's looking for a "surprise" story to tell when in fact the results were exactly as expected).

[CrONoS]

Rae dropping out of Liberal leadership race, leaving Ignatieff

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/12/09/rae-liberals.html

[Asher]

Now we have no choice but to have an election if they vote no-confidence (which is looking unlikely).

There's no way we should have a new Prime Minister who wasn't even running for the job or telling us his stances during the old election.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Asher
Now we have no choice but to have an election if they vote no-confidence (which is looking unlikely).

There's no way we should have a new Prime Minister who wasn't even running for the job or telling us his stances during the old election.

????????????????????



Kim Campbell, Paul Martin

WTF are you on about?

[Asher]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse


????????????????????



Kim Campbell, Paul Martin

I rest my case?

[Asher]

The Daily Show's "Canada in Crisis" segment was amazing.

http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/ for Canadians

[KrazyHorse]

Was funny, but far overplayed Queen's role. The governor general doesn't "ask the Queen" what to do in any sense.

[Asher]

You're not going to talk more about the amazing Kim Campbell?

[KrazyHorse]

Why should I? I've made my point. Your protestation that Ignatieff's presumed new status as Liberal leader changes the situation entirely is ridiculous. It has no precedent in law or custom. It is once more a fundamental misunderstanding of the status of the executive in Canada relative to the legislature. The executive DOES NOT EXIST as a wholly independent branch of government as it does in the US. It exists as an extension of the will of the Commons. It derives its mandate from the people THROUGH the Commons.

[Victor Galis]

Hey, at least we have by-elections to fill vacant seats rather than having provincial premiers filling them on a whim. (or for money and favours)