Quebec Election Thread

[Malthus]

Hey Quebec Langishistas, what think you? Election comming up.

The PQ's antics are, as one would expect, all over the English press; the Libs look as sad and tired as the federal libs. I know nothing of the new party, only that the PQ is evidently running scared of them.

I must admit to having got a bit of a chuckle out of accounts the PQ's proposed "secularism charter" that, it is alleged (I haven't actually read it) would prohibit wearing of religious gear ... with the exception of crosses. I've taken a lot of guff over pointing out that some PQ members are a tad parochial, shall we say ... 

[Barrister]

It truly seems that that Quebec voters are stuck deciding which is the lesser weevil.

[Grey Fox]

6 days to go!

I'll vote PQ because it pisses off my Baby boomer family and viper so, so much.

[Malthus]

What's that new party all about?

[Barrister]

What's that new party all about?

Hard to say.  The reports I've read* have said it has described itself as being right-of-centre, but the campaign rhetoric has been nothing but.



*Obviously reading about Quebec elections, in English, several provinces away is not a great source of news so Quebecers should feel free to contradict me.

[Malthus]

What's that new party all about?

Hard to say.  The reports I've read* have said it has described itself as being right-of-centre, but the campaign rhetoric has been nothing but.



*Obviously reading about Quebec elections, in English, several provinces away is not a great source of news so Quebecers should feel free to contradict me.

Yup, I can't make heads or tails of it. Quebec input needed.

[viper37]

I'll talk of the major parties only, as there are 20 official parties listed for this election.

Parti Libéral du Québec (PLQ).
Centre-left to center party.  Erected itself as guardian of the Quiet Revolution, true heir to Jean Lesage visions, mythical Premier whose main achievement was to master the propaganda and make Quebecers believe it was nothing but darkness before him.

The party has been in power for 3 mandates, total 9 years.  Multiple scandals of corruption or illegal financing have surfaced over the last few years as the journalists decided to investigate the FTQ (major union in Quebec).  The FTQ is the centre wing between the organized crime and the political parties, linking both.

The PLQ has its base among hard core federalists who believe Quebec should be a province like any other and should lose itself in that pseudo canadian nationalism.  Recent pro-monarchist delirium in English Canada has reduced the base of this party to English Quebecers and a few french leftist federalists out there.

They have, on paper, a strong economic agenda.  The only problem is they never do anything but impose statu quo. Economic statu quo as well as constitutional statu quo.  What little Quebec gained with the Conservative government, it was done by the Feds as this government never asked for anything for fear of being branded "seperatist".

Their political platform is mostly more of the same.  More public spending, more public investments to stimulate private investment, and the stuff they already promised in their 2 previous budgets: more taxes.


Parti Québécois
Socialist party.  In the past, center left, now, tryng everything to win the commie vote.

No one knows of their laïcitiy charter, it hasn't been published yet.  All we know is they will keep the crucifix in the National Assembly, for historical&cultural reasons.  I don't disagree with that.

They propose to remove a 200$ flat "health tax" the Liberals imposed by raising income tax on everyone earning more than 130 000$.
They propose the same economic agenda as the Liberals, except they want to change the way we perceived royalties, on sales instead of profits.  I agree with that too, but it stinks of hypocrisy for them to call the Liberals "thieves" when their new scheme would only give us 4% in royalties (a whopping 23 million$).

They abuse the electors in letting them think we can be as rich as Norway is with its oil, while at the same time opposing most of the new natural resources development, like drilling for shale gaz of shale oil.  They think we can compete with Australia on the mining industry while we barely have any mineral exploitation here compared to other countries.  They want to raise taxes on the mining industry for all profits above 8%, disregarding the fact that the interior Australian territory, and other countries are much more developped than Northern Quebec (and by northern, we mean James Bay and above).

They let electors believe we can be self-sufficient on our energy needs almost suggesting we can get rid of oil during their 4-5 years in power.  Many are stupid enough to believe them.

The seperatist agenda is well known, no need to dwell on it.  You agree or you disagree.  They promised a referendum by 2014, before Scotland gain independance.

The economic agenda is similar to the Liberal party, status quo, no revolution, no change, everything is perfect, the debt is not an issue.
The social agenda is similar to what the ADQ proposed a few years ago.  At the time, the ADQ was called a fascist party for proposing such things, now, the PQ as taken the mantle, but they sure don't want to be called fascists.  Go figure

They propose a "popular initiative referendum" wich could cover a variety of subject so long as the petition has 500 000 unique names.
It could, of course, include seperation.  It is still unclear if the governement is tied by this petition and must act first on the referendum and second on the result of the referendum.  Various answers have been given by the leader and its candidates.  Legally in Quebec, a referendum is not binding, meaning a government could ignore its outcome.

They propose a form of economic nationalism were sound financial principles would be thrown overboard in favour of protecting our corporations.  As if the Videotron debacle was not enough (Videotron was supposed to be bought by Rogers, the PQ intervene to stop the sale, bought it with Peladeau and we subsequently lost all of our investment value because it was a bad deal).

Traditional vote include everything left of the center and everything nationalist (including "soft federalists") but lately, they have competition on all sides.

The probability is high that the PQ will be the next minority government.


Québec Solidaire
Communist party with a bicephal head or one ultra-feminazi and an Iranian born doctor whose brother is wanted in Europe for terrorism activities.

It's the usual commie stuff.  Anti-american, pro-Al Queida, anti-war, pro-violence when it suits their needs, pro-anarchy, nationilize everything but the corner store and small farms.  They want to forbid advertizing of any kind, they promote free health care with zero privately owned clinics, free superior education, no laïcity, multi-culturalism (so long as everyone speak French), raise taxes for the filthy rich earning about 78 000$, raise taxes for the filthy rich corporations earning more than 50k a year.

They propose that the public pension fund covers 60% of average life income (25% currently) and they want to promote electricity for transportation (electification of railroads and electric cars).  they want to forbid lock-out for the few businesses who actually have the right to use it. 

No private corporations should be allowed to give money to charity, hospitals or schools.

And a lot of other non sensical stuff that pleases Montrealers.  This party earns 7-8% of the vote, mostly in downtown French Montreal (Plateau Mont-Royal).

They propose a form of direct democracy to determine Quebec's future, preferably seperate from Canada.

The danger they pose is not in itself, but in what the PQ will do to please these hard core nuts.


Option Nationale
Radical left wing seperatist party.  Disapointment of the year.
Jean-Martin Aussant is a former Morgan Stanley VP (London), someone highly educated, yet, he propose that we repeat the usual fiasco of nationalizing our natural resources, like other commie countries did, and see our export&profit drop dramatically.  As if the examples of the Société des Alcool and Hydro-Quebec were not enough, we need other non profitable state owned corporations.

I believe he is over-zealous in his nationalism.  He wants to take steps to make Quebec a country right after his election, disregarding the need for a referendum.

1-2% of the vote, possibility of Aussant himelf being elected due to a deal with Quebec Solidaire to not present any candidate in his riding.


Coallition Avenir Québec
Centre, centre-left.

The economic agenda is similar to that of the PQ and PLQ, but a bit less intrusive.

They are a nationalist party without a referendum agenda.  François Legault (leader) has promised no referendum while he is in power, and he promised 10 years in power maximum.

He wants to make Quebec more efficient.  He hopes to gain efficiency in various governemtal offices, mainly Hydro Quebec and the School Boards wich he proposed to merge with the regional Education department offices and abolish the Regional Healh Agencies.  Not a bad idea.  Doubtful he will succeed.

No drastic cuts outside of Hydro-Quebec, and even there, he simply wants to abolish the functions currently occupied by those who will leave for retirement.

Among the most original proposals is to have one "familiy" doctor per individual in Quebec by september 2014.  Without requiring private health care clinics.  Wishful thinking in my opinion.  The State is way too bloated to actually manage its resources.  I agree with him that it's not a matter of resources (1 doctor per 1000 inhabitants), but I disagree with him that just wishing it will make it happen.

He is also proposing some form of economic nationalism by requiring the Caisse de Dépôt et de Placement du Québec to reserve 25% of it's stock portfolio for Quebec based corporations (currently, total portfolio is about 22%, but that includes bonds and other financial products; stock ownership is about 12%).

The social agenda is absent from the offical discourse.  He is courting the anglos, and it seems to succeed at some point.  I expect a lot of 2nd places in traditional anglo ridings.  But of course, 2nd place means nothing in a parliamentary system.

Under a CAQ governement, private companies would be forced to give employees 5 days a year for "family" emergency.  As if we were not having enough problems now.

Otherwise, more of the same, like the PQ and the PLQ, except that maybe these ones will actually do what they promise.  Most of his promises are recycled from previous PQ and PLQ promises.

I'll end up voting for them.  I don't like the leader, I don't like the candidate, but there's no way I'll vote for the other clowns.  I actually doubt the leader's courage in facing the powerful unions, I believe he'll act like Charest and back off at the first threat, as he did before.

The CAQ will likely be the Official opposition in a PQ minority government.



For a good site on projected results:
http://www.tooclosetocall.ca/

The Liberals have a strong anglo base, and as such they can maintain themselves with the Outaouais and West-Montreal area.  Notice how the CAQ has more of the popular vote, yet less projected ridings.

[Malthus]

Woah. Thanks Vipes, for that account.

[viper37]

You're welcome

[Grey Fox]

I like http://www.threehundredeight.com/ for a feel of the tendencies. First place I saw the rise of the NDP in Quebec at the last Federal election.

Viper's description of the parties is fairly accurate full of the viper "I hate the Unions" rethoric but accurate.

@Viper, Quit the construction business, you'll fall in love with the Unions.

[viper37]

Hard to say.  The reports I've read* have said it has described itself as being right-of-centre, but the campaign rhetoric has been nothing but.

Depends.  Many fanatic leftists like Grey Fox will consider the PQ to be centre-right.  In that case, the CAQ is clearly centre-right.

Not what I was searching for, but a visual indication of each party's theme:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/quebecvotes2012/story/2012/08/28/quebec-platform-navigator.html

[viper37]

@Viper, Quit the construction business, you'll fall in love with the Unions.

I never liked bullies.

[Grey Fox]

Hard to say.  The reports I've read* have said it has described itself as being right-of-centre, but the campaign rhetoric has been nothing but.

Depends.  Many fanatic leftists like Grey Fox will consider the PQ to be centre-right.  In that case, the CAQ is clearly centre-right.

Hey! I'm not crazy. The PQ is left. I don't fit in any traditional left-right definition. I agree with many of the CAQ ideas but my dislikes are more important, plus I won't vote for the traitors.

[viper37]

plus I won't vote for the traitors.

The sovereignists are considered traitors in Canada.  You should not vote for such a party

[Valmy]

Recent pro-monarchist delirium in English Canada has reduced the base of this party to English Quebecers and a few french leftist federalists out there.