Parti Quebecois Rout in Quebec Election
April 10, 2014
Quebec’s separatist Parti Quebecois government led by Pauline Marois was soundly defeated in provincial elections on April 7 by the Parti Liberal. Premier Marois even lost her own seat in the provincial parliament and was, thus, forced to step down as party leader. Marois was the first woman premier of Quebec and the leader of the shortest-lived government in the province’s history. Canadian political pundits suggest she may also be the politician who rang the final death knell for the Quebec separatist movement. Toronto Star columnist Chantal Hebert noted that by rejecting the party’s central issue, voters “have inflicted a life-threatening defeat on the Parti Quebecois.”
Marois called the snap election on March 5 in the belief that she could transform the minority government, which won in September 2012, into a majority. According to political experts, she seriously misjudged the mood of voters. Parti Quebecois was initially damaged by her government’s proposed “charter of values,” which specifically prohibited civil servants from wearing such overt religious symbols as a turban or hijab. During the campaign, Marois stated publicly that provincial employees who did not comply would be fired, even including doctors, nurses, teachers, police, and firefighters. This produced a huge backlash, particularly among such powerful interests as civil-service unions and religious groups.
Quebec City is the capital of the province of Quebec, Canada’s only province whose residents are largely descended from French ancestors. (c) Nik Wheeler
Marois was also pushed by an inexperienced party candidate into turning the election into a referendum on Quebec independence. This, experts suggested, drove voters into the arms of the Parti Liberal–the only Quebec party completely against separation from Canada. “People are fed up with that kind of debate. They want something else,” Jean-Marc Leger, president and chief executive of a Montreal polling firm, remarked to The New York Times.
On the night of the election, Ms. Marois again turned a deaf ear to the mood of the electorate, pundits reported. Her only regret, she stated, was that she did not reinforce the use of French in the workplace while she had the chance.
Additional World Book articles:
- Bloc Quebecois
- Canada 1997 (a Back in Time article)
- Canada 1998 (a Back in Time article)
- Canadian provinces [Quebec] 2012 (a Back in Time article)
