Who is Philippe Couillard?

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Kevin Lees

As unbelievable as it seems, the Jean Charest era is firmly over in Québécois politics. Philippe Couillard, his former minister of health and social services, is now the leader of Québec’s Parti libéral du Québec (Liberal Party, or PLQ), which narrowly lost its reelection campaign in September 2012 for what would have been a fourth consecutive term in government under [...]

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Trudeau now all but certain to become Liberal leader in Canada

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Kevin Lees

While everyone was watching to the Vatican City on Wednesday, another potential world leader took a step toward his own elevation — Justin Trudeau, whose chief rival for the Liberal Party leadership in Canada dropped out and endorsed him in advance of what’s now likely to be a mere formality on April 14.  Like the [...]

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What next for Liberal leader Jean Charest?

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Jean Charest stepped down yesterday as the leader of Québec’s Parti libéral du Québec (Liberal Party, or PLQ), following his loss in Tuesday’s election for the 125-seat Assemblée nationale. His party finished less than 0.75% behind the soveriegntist Parti québécois (PQ), and it won just 50 seats to the PQ’s 54.  But those four extra [...]

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An amazing 48 hours in Québec

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Well, there’s not much I can add to what the Canadian — and indeed, the Québécois, media — have covered in the past 48 hours. But let’s just recount: In Tuesday’s election, the Parti québécois (PQ) finished first with 31.94% with 54 seats. Premier Jean Charest’s Parti liberal du Québec (Liberal Party, or PLQ) came a very-much closer-than-expected 31.20% with [...]

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Québec votes today

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Canada’s only French-speaking and second-largest province goes to the polls today to elect the 125-member Assemblée nationale — Quebec’s politics are a fascinating subset of Canadian politics (notwithstanding the fact that the election will likely have a minimal impact on federal Canadian politics). Rather than try to provide my own rundown and projection, I’ll leave it [...]

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Plan Nord and the Québec election

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Lurking behind the sexier issues at the forefront of tomorrow’s Québec provincial elections — sovereignty, federal-Québec relations, health care, corruption inquiries, tuition fees and student protests — lies an issue that will be quite strongly affected by who wins. That issue is premier Jean Charest’s Plan nord — a plan announced in May 2011 to exploit [...]

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Could this man defeat Québec premier Jean Charest in his own district?

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Serge Cardin (pictured above) leads the premier of Québec in his own election district by 12 points in the latest Segma poll — by a daunting margin of 45% to 33%.  It’s not a fluke — Jean Charest’s seat is one of the most vital election districts to watch among the 125 seats up for [...]

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What effect will the Québec election have on Canadian federal politics?

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Kevin Lees

With all eyes on Québec’s election next Tuesday, federal Canadian politics has somewhat been on the backburner for the past month. But what are the consequences of the election in Canada’s second most-populous province for federal Canadian politics? By and large, federal politics is highly segregated from provincial politics.  While there’s some overlap, provincial parties do [...]

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The key to Québec’s election are the CAQ-leaning francophones, not anglophones

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Kevin Lees

If voters support the parties in next Tuesday’s Québec election as shown in the latest Leger Marketing poll, it will be with a burst of support among francophone voters for the newly-formed Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ). That poll showed, essentially, a three-way race, with the sovereigntist Parti québécois (PQ) leading at 33%, with 28% for the CAQ [...]

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Will Québec solidaire break through in next Tuesday’s election?

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Kevin Lees

When Québec’s major party leaders gathered a few days ago for the only multi-party debate in advance of the election for Québec’s Assemblée nationale on Sept. 4, voters saw three familiar faces: Jean Charest, leader of the Parti libéral du Québec (Liberal Party, or PLQ) and the province’s premier since 2003; Pauline Marois, leader of the sovereigntist Parti québécois (PQ), and François Legault, a former [...]

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Sovereigntist party runs away from sovereignty issue in Québec election

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Kevin Lees

The last time Québec held a referendum on independence in 1995, Jacques Parizeau (pictured above in 1995) was the leader of the sovereigntist Parti québécois (PQ). With just over a week to go until Québec votes on Sept. 4 for a new Assemblée nationale, Parizeau, in a sharp rebuke to PQ leader Pauline Marois, endorsed the smaller, more stridently sovereigntist Option nationale, [...]

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Live-blogging the Québec debates: Marois v. Legault

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Kevin Lees

I’ll be live-blogging tonight’s debate — the third and final debate of a series of one-on-one debates — between Pauline Marois, leader of the leftist, sovereigntist Parti québécois (PQ) and François Legault, leader of the newly formed, sort-of maybe center-right Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ).        Sunday night featured a four-way debate, Monday night featured a raucous one-on-one between Marois and premier Jean Charest, [...]

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Live-blogging the Québec debates: Charest v. Legault

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Kevin Lees

I’ll be live-blogging tonight’s hourlong debate — the second in a series of three one-on-one debates — between Québec premier Jean Charest, the leader of the centrist, federalist Parti libéral du Québec (Liberal Party, or PLQ) and François Legault, leader of the newly formed, sort-of maybe center-right Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ). Sunday night featured a [...]

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Live-blogging the Québec debates: Charest v. Marois

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Kevin Lees

I’ll be (hopefully — giving my French quite a test!) live-blogging tonight’s hourlong debate between Québec’s premier since 2003, Jean Charest, the leader of the centrist, federalist Parti libéral du Québec (Liberal Party, or PLQ) and Pauline Marois, the leader of the leftist, sovereigntist Parti québécois (PQ).  Last night featured a four-way debate, tomorrow will see a debate between Charest and François Legault, leader of [...]

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Charest comes out swinging in first Québec debate

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Kevin Lees

The party leaders of each of the four main political parties in Québec held their first debate Sunday in advance of the province’s September 4 election, with three additional one-on-one debates to follow tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday. It’s always difficult to tell whether debates will change the dynamic of an election campaign, and it’s no [...]

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