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Au revoir, Bernard. Et Lucien. Et Jacques.
Having held Canada hostage for as long as many of us can remember, bringing us to the brink of federal disintegration in 1995, l'électorat Quebecois finally bid the Parti Quebecois adieu. It's equally difficult to accurately estimate the turmoil the constant threat of separation has caused the country since le Parti puissant assumed les belles rênes nearly nine years ago. Indeed, given that Canada's economy is currently performing better than those of most of its G8 partners, a Parti Quebecois supporter could argue the underlying threat of constitutional crises really has had little lasting impact on the country's ability to perform. On the other hand - the Parti has been on its way out for a while now; arguably since the retirement of Lucien Bouchard - one of the Parti's most notable leaders and certainly a more coherent debater than the current dirigeant - few can have realistically anticipated the separatistes posed a significant threat. Even if Canada's economy had been suffering malaise in the recent past, few could place the blame on Bernard Landry's performance creating a convincing raison pour la séparation. Indeed, Landry has taken the wind out of separatism's sail like a tanker emptying a septic tank. Like so many provincial elections, the victor less won the election than the incumbent lost. But while federalists within and without la belle province are surely hard pressed to lament the political passing of the premier, it's also difficult to be terribly excited about the ascension of Jean Charest to the executive suite of l'assemblie Nationale. Mr. Charest parachuted into the role of Quebec Liberal Leader in 1998, his résumé including his apparently dominant role in the protection of Canada from the nationalist forces during the sovereignty referendum of 1995. "Captain Canada," as he was then nicknamed, stepped into the campaign where the Prime Minister dare not tread and helped the "No" campaign win the contest - by a stunning margin of less than one percent. My hero. His other principal previous political experience: the federal arena, not with the Liberals but as leader of the government's arch nemesis: the Progressive Conservative Party. As one of only two surviving members of the previous Mulroney-led Tory administration, Jean Charest rather easily won the leadership of the near decimated party in the hopes of rebuilding it to its former national status.
The copyright of the article Captain Canada returns to Quebec
in Canadian Federal Politics is owned by David Russell. Permission to republish Captain Canada returns to Quebec
in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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