Posted on 10/13/2008 12:21:04 PM PDT by MplsSteve
To the surprise of nobody, many endorsements and opinions in Quebec have been voiced during this federal election campaign, with Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's campaign being one of the central targets.
In our effort to give readers a taste of what is being said in the province, we did stumble on one surprise: an influential newspaper that picked none of the parties nor leaders running for office, perhaps a telling sign of a campaign that's done little to impress.
Quebec's esteemed newspaper of record La Presse did just that this week, in what editor-in-chief André Pratte called a "sad realization."
"None of the federal parties has proven it is really ready to govern the country in this period of economic incertitude," Pratte wrote on Oct. 9.
Editorial boards traditionally back a party and leader at the tail end of any political campaign, making their case based on performance, platform, past policies and posterity.
La Presse backed Harper's Conservatives in 2006, hoping that once in office, the new Tories would prove moderate, sensitive to the majority's wishes, and faithful to Canadian values.
"Unfortunately, on many fronts, the Harper government has profoundly disappointed us; the Conservatives definitely do not deserve the majority they hoped for at the start of the campaign," Pratte said.
The Tories scored some points in Quebec while in office — addressing the so-called fiscal imbalance and the Québécois as a nation motion are accomplishments repeatedly trotted out to prove Harper's commitment to the province.
But on other fronts — greenhouse gas emissions, lowering the GST, cabinet minister problems, foreign policy — the Conservatives have shown "a rare incompetence," Pratte said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbc.ca ...
For reasons I've never been too sure of, I have followed Quebec's political scene for a number of years. It was here (in '06) that the Tories picked up a number of seats that lead to them taking control of the House of Commons.
One thing I do understand about Quebec politics is that there seems to be an eternally dissatisfied group of voters and a conflicted group at that. They continually elect BQ and PQ members to the House of Commons and provincial parliament - but can't ever agree on whether they want to leave Canada or not (1980 and 1995 referendums). And now (if the CBC is reporting this story correctly), they seem to be disenchanted with Stephen Harper's leadership.
Anyone want to weigh in on this? Any serious insights would be appreciated!
Canada PING?
Good luck to you folks up there in Canada! We may need to be asking for political asylum up there in the very near future.
I don’t think the point of calling the election was to gain a majority; they knew from the beginning that it was even odds at best. The real purpose was to bankrupt the Liberal Party, already in dire financial straits before the writ was dropped. We’ll see another minority that is effectively unstoppable because the Libs will have no money to fight another election anytime soon and will probably be embroiled in a leadership fight.
Thank you very much Lucius.
I think McCain will win too.
There is a live thread in breaking, if you want to follow along, but we don’t expect too much news before 8pm or so, with official totals coming after 10pm. EST.
No exit polls?
No exit polls.
You may be partly right; I expect we’ll know what the new government looks like within 24 hours. As to “real purposes” and who knew what, when, we may never know.
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