Quebec Zombies

Very unusual and unprecedented election in Quebec this week. Premier Jean Charest, who everyone had previously written off as a gonner, managed to narrowly win re-election. But he suffered a lot of losses in the process, and will now head Quebec’s first minority government in 150 years. The Separatist party, by contrast, who everyone had previously thought was on the path to victory, came in third place.

The biggest surprise of all was the dramatic breakthrough of the “Action Democratique” party. They came in second, and will now form the official opposition in the Quebec parliament. The ADQ, as it is known, will be the first seriously conservative party to have a commanding presence in the Quebec legislature since the fall of the right-wing “Union Nationale” party in the early 70′s.

This has the left-wing set quite worried. Does it signal a desire to return to classical French-style attitudes of intolerance and chauvinism? There was a good article about Dumont in the Globe and Mail, but I can’t link to it because they have one of those “pay to read” newspaper sites.

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