The Toughest Job in Politics

I won't say I feel bad for Pauline Marois - seeing the PQ implode a few weeks after the BQ was all but obliterated is Must See TV. But when looking at the problems besieging her, it's important to remember that Marois has the toughest job in politics.

Consider this. The PQ has knifed every successful leader they've ever had - even Rene Levesque and Lucien Bouchard were forced out. And now, Pauline Marois is under fire from all directions even though she has led in every poll released over the past year and earned a 93% show of support in last month's leadership review.

Three high-profile MNAs and Parizeau supporters quit on June 6th . They were followed by a fourth the next day. The official raison d'etre for their walk across the floor was a private members bill on Quebec City arena funding but, reading between the lines, it was obvious they left because Marois wasn't taking a hard line separatist position. Now, a fifth MNA has quit because Marois is too focused on sovereignty.

Talk about a tough crowd to please.

Au Revoir

The Parti Quebecois have basically been handed the next provincial election if they want it. But much like the BC NDP, all indications are their answer is "thanks, but no thanks".

The latest problem for them is the defection of three high profile MNAs. And why are they defecting you ask? Over contentious issues surrounding sovereignty, reasonable accommodation, or Quebec's massive deficit?

Nope.

Over a private members bill about a hockey arena:

3 PQ members leave party
Beaudoin, Curzi, Lapointe will sit as independant MNAs

Three influential Parti Québécois members of the national assembly are leaving Quebec's sovereigntist party, largely because of a controversial bill to protect the provincial capital and its management deal on the city's new hockey arena.

Louise Beaudoin, the member for Montreal's Rosemont riding, Pierre Curzi, who represents Borduas, and Lisette Lapointe, the member for Crémazie and the wife of former PQ leader Jacques Parizeau, announced Monday morning that they will sit as independents committed to sovereignty.

Their decision was triggered by a private member's bill sponsored by PQ member Agnès Maltais to protect the City of Quebec after the multimillion-dollar deal it made with media giant Quebecor to operate the future arena.

What's the French word for "sorry excuse for a party"?

It's kind of refreshing to see a party in worse shape than the Liberals:

Curzi backtracked from suggestions a sovereign Quebec could strip West Island anglophones of their right to vote, saying that once Quebec became sovereign, all residents of the new country would automatically become Quebec citizens, with full voting rights.

In an interview with Gilles Proulx, a pioneer in shock-talk radio, Proulx called the West Island "Ontario," and said West Islanders would never accept a PQ proposal for Quebec citizenship before sovereignty.

"We can't change that with a magic wand," Curzi said. "If these people want to benefit, as long as we are a province, we can't do more.

"We can't take away their right to vote because that is a right we cannot control because we are still a province within the federation. Obviously, the day when the country is there, we will control citizenship, which will have more teeth, if I can dare to say so."