Pauline Marois, Another PM PM?

[August1991]

When her parents chose her name, I'm sure they didn't think about initials. She's a boomer, from a small town near Quebec City. She went to elementary school under Duplessis and then benefitted from the Quiet Revolution.

There's no doubt now that she'll be PQ leader and I'd say she has a very good shot at being PM of Quebec.

She's very ambitious and very opportunistic but she hides her ambition and opportunism under a professional mantle and an honest veneer of middle class common sense.

At the moment, she's very popular among PQ-types, desperate for anyone to get them out of their marasme. Her R-C interview this morning was a love-in. As more evidence, she got only 30% in the 2005 leadership race but now she's everyone's darling.

Her ambition and opportunism mean that she will firmly try to occupy the centre. She's almost there. She has said that she wants to modernize the PQ's social democracy (without losing its basic soldarity). She wants to forgo a referendum in the next mandate (without losing sight of the PQ's basic goal of sovereignty). [That's not what she said in 2005 but her change of course is due, she says, to a democratic recognition of the 2007 election.]

Marois is responsible for creating the network of $5/day State day-care in Quebec. She was Minister of Education when Quebec and the federal government passed a constitutional amendment abolishing confessional schools in Montreal.

----

Political gossip points for which she's "famous":

In Quebec, she is considered weak because she doesn't speak English well. (Frankly, her English is better than Harper's French.)

Charest fired her husband, Claude Blanchet, who was head of a State investment fund.

She owns a holiday home in Mexico and had a $200,000 silent flush toilet installed in her ministerial office. She's a clothes horse. Her choice of a political career has made her, and her husband, well-off. Her middle class manners are pure pretense. (In her 20s, Parizeau brought her to Quebec City. All her pay slips since have been on government paper.)

----

My take on this? I think the PQ should have chosen her in 2005. She's a standard issue Quebec boomer and she appeals to the typical clientele of the PQ. She's perfectly at ease in Montreal and yet she's from the area that is now ADQ/Conservative. She can keep in line the leftists and the hard-core separatists in the PQ.

Her weakness however is that she's the same old PQ. She's been in the PQ forever.

If the 2006 federal election and the 10 Conservative seats in Quebec, if the 2007 Quebec election and the rise of the ADQ both signal a change in Quebec politics, then Marois' career will go nowhere. If the Tories and the ADQ are random urges, then she'll make PM.

Last point.

English Canada is right to note that she has promised not to hold a referendum during her first mandate. (Marois has a game plan that involves drafting a new constitution and talking alot about sovereignty... ) Indeed, there's a already an involved, ongoing debate about the difference between Marois and Dumont. (You don't want to know.)

The main point however is that Duceppe folded fast when his bluff was called. Marois apparently too.

[August1991]

Dumont got off one of the best lines about Marois:

«Là, elle a une semaine extraordinaire, a commenté hier le chef de l'ADQ en conférence de presse. Les gens qui veulent un virage à gauche sont avec elle, les gens qui veulent un virage à droite sont avec elle, ceux qui veulent un référendum plus vite sont avec elle, ceux qui ne veulent plus de référendum sont avec elle... J'ai l'impression que c'est comme des naufragés qui voient arriver un canot de sauvetage: tout le monde saute dedans, mais quand il va falloir décider si on part par là ou par là, ils vont se battre à coups de rames.»

La Presse

To paraphrase, Dumont says everyone is with Marois now: the Left, the Right, those who want a referendum, those who don't. They're like drowning people from a shipwreck reaching for a lifeboat, everyone jumps in. But when it will come time to decide which way to row, they'll start fighting with their oars.

Dumont is a successful politician in part because he says well what everybody thinks.

[fellowtraveller]

Interesting background on Ms Marois. I wish her well.

However, I find myself increasingly in the "I don't care" camp. I grow weary of one province dominating the national political scene, and ultimately damaging our national ability to compete internationally en masse.

I urge Quebec and Quebecois to unilaterally work out where they see themselves in Confederation, or how they see themselves outside our fragile union. Either way, come back with an estimate of costs and we'll talk either about terms of integration or terms of separation. Your choice, and I'm happy with either..

[August1991]

Thread drift ahead...

I urge Quebec and Quebecois to unilaterally work out where they see themselves in Confederation, or how they see themselves outside our fragile union. Either way, come back with an estimate of costs and we'll talk either about terms of integration or terms of separation. Your choice, and I'm happy with either.

You sound like someone who looks at the US, sees a united country and then wonders why we can't have the same, smaller version in Canada.

Well, Canada will never be like that. We will never be a homogeneous country. We'll always be, to use a now-dated word, dysfunctional.

The word "Canada" must always be close to kitsch - a word devoid of any meaning and hence open to any interpretation. "Canada" is a geographic term, like the Arctic Circle.

I have come to the conclusion that this fact disturbs many English Canadians who really want to have a country - a country where everyone works together and there isn't this constant sniping or talk of leaving. Well, Canada will never be such a country. (If that sounds frustrating, imagine for a moment the frustration of many in Quebec who have a country but lack the popular support to make it politically possible.)

Canada is a federal regime for a reason. The federal Liberal Party under Chretien was disingenuous to imply otherwise. Trudeau at least had intellectual scruples on this point. He was a federalist with at worst, a penchant for the perfectibility of man.

[Rue]

Marois is a seperatist. I do not wish her well. She has no need for anyone who does not fit her stereo-type of a Quebecer. Typical of her generation, she feels Canada should still fund Quebec after they seperate, share currency, a military. She is an elitist, snob without a clue how to run today's economy. Excuse me but she and Mario Dimwit are precisely what is wrongw ith Quebec. They are one dimensional characters that know how to complain but nothing else. They are professional opposition leaders. They are great at bitching but haven't a clue at how to administer or run a program or a business.

They are light-weights. Her political believes are based on 1960's liberation politics completely antiquated and irrelevant in today's world economy. In case you have not noticed she and Mario Dummy are reactionaries, no more no less. They cringe at Jean Charest because he has the nerve to think the province should be run with fiscal responsibility and as part of a greater world wide economy.

Quebec can not succeed economically on its own. Extolling the virtues of in-breeding as a way to create a

country is ridiculous and that is all Marois and Dumont stand for.

[August1991]

They are one dimensional characters that know how to complain but nothing else.

The cartoon version of War and Peace would also make Pierre Bezukhov look one dimensional and your rant above is slimmer than the cartoon version of reality.

So then, who is really being one dimensional?

[fellowtraveller]

Thread drift ahead...

I urge Quebec and Quebecois to unilaterally work out where they see themselves in Confederation, or how they see themselves outside our fragile union. Either way, come back with an estimate of costs and we'll talk either about terms of integration or terms of separation. Your choice, and I'm happy with either.

You sound like someone who looks at the US, sees a united country and then wonders why we can't have the same, smaller version in Canada.

Well, Canada will never be like that. We will never be a homogeneous country. We'll always be, to use a now-dated word, dysfunctional.

The word "Canada" must always be close to kitsch - a word devoid of any meaning and hence open to any interpretation. "Canada" is a geographic term, like the Arctic Circle.

I have come to the conclusion that this fact disturbs many English Canadians who really want to have a country - a country where everyone works together and there isn't this constant sniping or talk of leaving. Well, Canada will never be such a country. (If that sounds frustrating, imagine for a moment the frustration of many in Quebec who have a country but lack the popular support to make it politically possible.)

Canada is a federal regime for a reason. The federal Liberal Party under Chretien was disingenuous to imply otherwise. Trudeau at least had intellectual scruples on this point. He was a federalist with at worst, a penchant for the perfectibility of man.

I'd agree that Canada will never be homogenous with Quebec creating political havoc in cyclic spasms. So my offer stands: take it or leave it, and I'm indifferent to your choice culturally. I am not indifferent economically, and the terms of either will be negotiated as would any merger or dissolution.

Your 'frustration' theory is more fodder for the reality that Quebec holds itself in such high regard that they fall prey to the old maxim " You'd be less concerend about what others thought of you if you only knew how infrequently they did".

Truly, your province was never the center of the Universe, and the slide to oblivion on the margins of even this backwater of a country is inevitable and gaining speed on the downhill slide. Quebec is threatened culturally and economically- time to make your choice. I suspect though that you have already made your choice. I wish you bon vovage and bonne chance. Don't forget to pay your bills though, they are very substantial and your creditors won't take a third party checque..

[August1991]

I think there's a thread (I may have started it) about the suicide of the PQ. Well, it's more or less official now, for a generation or two. I'll make the case here because Marois has pronounced it, without having to fly to Switzerland to visit a clinic.

Mais pour les souverainistes le grand soir n'est pas pour demain, a prévenu Mme Marois. Car sous son règne, «on ne parlera plus de la date ou de l'heure» du prochain référendum, a-t-elle précisé, s'éloignant de tout échéancier référendaire, tel qu'elle s'était engagée à le faire si elle prenait les rênes du parti.

La nouvelle leader du parti a donc bien pris soin d'inviter ses militants à faire preuve de patience, tout en attisant leur flamme souverainiste.

«Nous prendrons le temps qu'il faut pour faire progresser cette idée de pays», a-t-elle dit, en conclusion d'un discours très bref, d'à peine cinq pages.

Link

In English:

Hundreds of PQ supporters gathered in Quebec City on Wednesday night to welcome Marois as the party’s new leader. She was acclaimed as PQ leader on Tuesday after no one chose to run against her. "We’ll take the time we need to advance this idea of a country," she told the crowd.

"We won’t talk any more about the date or the time (of another referendum)."

Link

We'll take the time we need to advance this idea of a country?

WTF?

The PQ has had 40 years to advance the idea. How many years more do these people want?

The modern incarnation of French North American nationalism was an affair of Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers are about to die and euthanasia will become the next big fad. It's somehow appropriate that a Boomer like Marois puts the 1960s sovereignist dream out of its misery.

----

In the event that you are cynical/naive and/or believe that this will come back again, Marois has officially removed the bullet from the chamber. If she is elected PM of Quebec, there will be no referendum in her first mandate. IOW, the PQ no longer seeks the independance of Quebec.

Minor anecdote ahead. I was in a car dealership in east-end Montreal this past week and I overheard the salesmen talking. One told the other how he had met Harper in Ottawa. (The salesguy was a friend of a friend of an MP and had been invited to an affair... ) I was surprised, astonished. Harper is a bloke, and his schtick seems to work.

[August1991]

For anyone who cares about these nuances now...

In the event that you are cynical/naive and/or believe that this will come back again, Marois has officially removed the bullet from the chamber. If she is elected PM of Quebec, there will be no referendum in her first mandate.

Correction.

Marois went further in her first press conference as PQ leader and said that there would be no referendum in the next few mandates:

Pauline Marois est prête à dissocier le Parti québécois (PQ) de tout projet de référendum sur la souveraineté pour un temps indéterminé.

Ainsi, sous sa gouverne, le PQ pourrait prendre le pouvoir pendant plusieurs mandats d'affilée sans jamais en appeler au peuple en vue de réaliser l'article un - et la raison d'être - du parti: faire accéder le Québec au statut d'Etat souverain.

Link

Soveregnists are now making the distinction between the words "referendum" and "sovereignty".

Dumont meanwhile is treating Marois as any other politician and noting her incompetence while she was in power.

[Mad_Michael]

... then she'll make PM.

I consider the idea of a PQ leader becoming Prime Minister of Canada to be utterly absurd.

[August1991]

... then she'll make PM.

I consider the idea of a PQ leader becoming Prime Minister of Canada to be utterly absurd.

And I consider equally absurd that English Canada uses a French word to designate a Head of Government: Premier.

In a parliamentary system with a cabinet, a head of government is a leading minister, a prime minister or a first minister.

Is Stephen Harper Ontario's first minister?

[Mad_Michael]

And I consider equally absurd that English Canada uses a French word to designate a Head of Government: Premier.

1. Canada is an officially bilingual country.

2. You haven't noticed the hundreds if not thousands of words in English that have French origins?

In a parliamentary system with a cabinet, a head of government is a leading minister, a prime minister or a first minister.

A parliament is sovereign. Provincial legislatures are not soveriegn.

Is Stephen Harper Ontario's first minister?

He would like to be.