Mr. Legault has quite rightly read the political mood of the province, which is dominated by a profound dislike of the Liberal government, coupled with abject disdain of the alternative, the Parti Quebecois.
As unpopular as Mr. Charest is, Pauline Marois is not generally perceived as a viable alternative and with personal polling numbers that are almost as bad as the Premier's, it's clear that both parties are ripe for the picking.
Mr. Legault is offering a 'third way,' (la troisième voie) a political dogma between sovereignty and federalism, a government which will remain nationalistic, but without threatening independence. How this will work is not clear, but it seems to be sounding a solid note with francophones who lost confidence in the Liberals, but are afraid of the Parti Quebecois.
While both the Liberals and the Parti Quebecois would be badly hurt by this new party in the short-term (next election), in the long run it is the Parti Quebecois which will be destroyed.
As I wrote in a column last week, the sovereignty option is fast fading and even nationalists are looking for an alternative that will protect Quebec's individuality without pushing an independence option, which they rightly perceive as unattainable.
It seems that voters, dumb as they are, are more realistic about the chances of independence than the Parti Quebecois, who at any rate, will never give up the sovereignty option.
Polls are showing that the new party would get more votes than the PQ or the Liberals and would likely form a minority government. In that case, it would be likely that the Liberals would support the government while they rebuild their brand, gearing up for an eventual two-way fight.
The bad news for separatists is that support for the new party is coming largely at their expense.
Voters willing to move their votes over to the new party are made up of 34% those presently supporting Quebec Solidaire and 29% of Parti Quebecois supporters. The Liberal bleed is less than half at 14%.
The re-alignment of the political stars means that in the future, we will likely see a federalist Liberal party battle a small-c conservative, Force Quebec, a party advocating a nationalistic policy without independence.
How freaked out are the sovereignists over the unfolding winds of change?
Extremely.
The furious reaction in the press by sovereignist stalwarts, forecasting the failure of Force Quebec, was a clear case of 'whistling past the graveyard,' but try as they did, they couldn't hide the fear.
"Putting the sovereignty question under the carpet is like pretending winter doesn't exist."
"Force Quebec will never see the light of day."Just as the Parti Quebecois sent the Union Nationale party into political oblivion, the fear is real among sovereignists that this is the beginning of the end of the Parti Quebecois as a political force. Remember that two elections ago the party was relegated to third place behind the ADQ.
And so for the Pequistes and their supporters it's certainly time to fret....
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A NOTE ON CANADA'S UNITED NATIONS 'HUMILIATION'
In an insane asylum taken over by the inmates, it's no great dishonour to be rejected by the majority.
The only saving grace in Canada not getting a seat at the Security council is that we lost to Portugal.
We could have been rewarded with Iran, Libya or some other banana republic, which would no doubt be a more popular choice among the sad loser countries that make up the majority of the once august body.
There are those of us at home who will berate the government for it's principled polices that led us to be rejected by this merry band of fools.
Fair enough. Let's be thankful that we have that type of democracy where real free speech exists. How many countries that voted against can say the same?
In the spirit of celebrating that freedom, a shout out to the Canadian Arab Federation who helped torpedo the nomination by circulating an E-mail entitled. “Don’t Give Canada a Security Council Seat.” Well done!
I wonder what would happen, if an organization similar to the Canadian Arab Federation agitated in a similar fashion in any of the CAF's member's ancestral Arab homelands.
The only saving grace in Canada not getting a seat at the Security council is that we lost to Portugal.
We could have been rewarded with Iran, Libya or some other banana republic, which would no doubt be a more popular choice among the sad loser countries that make up the majority of the once august body.
There are those of us at home who will berate the government for it's principled polices that led us to be rejected by this merry band of fools.
Fair enough. Let's be thankful that we have that type of democracy where real free speech exists. How many countries that voted against can say the same?
In the spirit of celebrating that freedom, a shout out to the Canadian Arab Federation who helped torpedo the nomination by circulating an E-mail entitled. “Don’t Give Canada a Security Council Seat.” Well done!
I wonder what would happen, if an organization similar to the Canadian Arab Federation agitated in a similar fashion in any of the CAF's member's ancestral Arab homelands.
In an online comment written in reaction to a story about Canada's loss, a reader asked an intriguing hypothetical question;
Would an independent Quebec with Pauline Marois as its leader have voted for Canada? ..Dunno.....
Would an independent Quebec with Pauline Marois as its leader have voted for Canada? ..Dunno.....
