Cheung Mo
11th April 2006, 02:27
http://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/resultats...minaires_en.asp (http://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/resultats_2006/resultatsPreliminaires_en.asp)
The Parti Quebecois, being vaguely social democratic and very socially liberal excep on the English issue, is the least bad of the bourgeois/neo-lib parties. It favours an independent Quebec and 80 - 90% of its support comes from separatists. The rest comes from left-leaning federalists who find them less bad than the Liberals or the ADQ. It is the second most powerful party in Quebec and forms the government when the Liberals are not in power. The riding being contested is fairly separatist and is the most leftist riding in Quebec and possibly in Canada, as it includes Montreal's Gay Village and the staunchly left-wing Mount Royal Plateau. The federal riding that most of this provicial riding encompasses gave centre-left (on the Bourgeois spectrucm) Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe a huge majority in the 2004 federal election. The social democratic NDP finished a rare second in Quebec, with the Liberals finishing a shockingly disappointing 3rd (prior to the formation of the BQ, the riding was a Liberal stronghold and was one of the rare separatist ridings that resisted the Mulroney landslides of the 1980s...Oddly enough, this riding used to vote Union Nationale and Creditiste, but the riding in recent times has become a hotbed of social liberalism and bourgeois centre-leftism), the Greens (an eco-capitalist party whose supporters tend to be left of the BQ or the NDP but otherwise ignorant of politics) ekeing out 4th, and the hapless Conservatives, failing to capitalise on their breakthrough elsewhere in La Belle Province, finishing an embarrassing but well-deserved 5th. Anyways, the PQ holds power in Quebec when people are angry with either the PLQ or with the rest of Canada. The Parti Quebecois is led by the charismatic Andre Boisclair, a gay "former" cokehead (he used the drug while being a member of Bernard Landry's cabinet) considered to be on the right wing of the party and friendly to the neo-liberal agenda.
The Parti Liberal du Quebec has gone from being the social democratic and nationalist architect of the legendary Quiet Revolution to being just another neo-liberal party. Unpopular leader Jean Charest is no bigot (although his sexual escapdes with sheep and other barnyard animals are well-known :lol: ), but he's been riding the neo-liberal bandwagon since his days in Mulrotten's Tory cabinet. The PLQ favours some autonomy for Quebec relative to Canada's other provinces but is generally a federalist party. Its federalist-separatist ratio is almost the inverse of the PQ's and it has been Quebec's natural governing party since the fall of the far-right Union Nazionale (sic).
The Action Democratique du Quebec/Equipe Mario Dumont is a libertarian-conservative party centred around the young and charismatic former Young Liberals leader Mario Dumont, nicknamed Super Mario. It favours extensive privatisation and a reversal of the economic (but not the social and cultural) reforms of the Quiet Revolution. While extremely weak on Montreal Island, it has a following in the old Union Nationale heartland and has typically won a good 15% of the vote in recent elections (I remember about 11% in 1998 and about 18% in 2003, disappointing for a party that at times led the polls going into the election.). This support has not translated into very many seats due to deficiencies of Canada's electoral systems. While I don't like this party at all, I think its sad to see anybody screwed by unfair electoral systems. Oddly enough, this party enjoys smidgen of support from the left due to its perception as being outside of Quebec's political status quo. The fringe, which probably accounts for less than 5% of the party's support, tends to vote NDP federally if they bother to vote at all. About half of its support is separatist, the party signed an agreement with the BQ and the PQ to support the yes side of the 1995 referendum, and the party now tends to be vague about its position on Quebec's future within Canada, using poorly-defined buzzwords like "autonomism".
Quebec Solidaire is a merger between the democratic socialist Union des Forces Progressistes and the left-wing feminist party Option Citoyenne (Citizens' Option, although Citoyenne is the feminin form of Citoyen). The UFP won under 2% of the vote in the 2003 provincial elections while Option Citoyenne is a new party. The UFP was a marger between the Democratic Socialist Party (a Quebec wing of the NDP that was disafilliated for electing former FLQ leader Paul Rose as its leader), the Communist Party, and some small far-left separatist party. The main ideologies espoused by Option Citoyenne include democratic socialism, anarcho-socialism, and radical feminism. While much of its support is bourgeois and student-based due to the working-class unions being controlled by the PQ, it's the only party in Quebec openly condemning the neo-liberal agenda. While the UFP didn't really have a leader or a formal hierarchy, the new party may...I don't really know as much about it. QS takes a separatist stance but has federalist members that share its other convictions.
The Parti Vert du Quebec is a small left-leaning ecologist party that has sometimes worked in informal coalitions with the UFP. Unlike most ecologist parties in Canada, the PVQ is not eco-capitalist.
The Parti Quebecois, being vaguely social democratic and very socially liberal excep on the English issue, is the least bad of the bourgeois/neo-lib parties. It favours an independent Quebec and 80 - 90% of its support comes from separatists. The rest comes from left-leaning federalists who find them less bad than the Liberals or the ADQ. It is the second most powerful party in Quebec and forms the government when the Liberals are not in power. The riding being contested is fairly separatist and is the most leftist riding in Quebec and possibly in Canada, as it includes Montreal's Gay Village and the staunchly left-wing Mount Royal Plateau. The federal riding that most of this provicial riding encompasses gave centre-left (on the Bourgeois spectrucm) Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe a huge majority in the 2004 federal election. The social democratic NDP finished a rare second in Quebec, with the Liberals finishing a shockingly disappointing 3rd (prior to the formation of the BQ, the riding was a Liberal stronghold and was one of the rare separatist ridings that resisted the Mulroney landslides of the 1980s...Oddly enough, this riding used to vote Union Nationale and Creditiste, but the riding in recent times has become a hotbed of social liberalism and bourgeois centre-leftism), the Greens (an eco-capitalist party whose supporters tend to be left of the BQ or the NDP but otherwise ignorant of politics) ekeing out 4th, and the hapless Conservatives, failing to capitalise on their breakthrough elsewhere in La Belle Province, finishing an embarrassing but well-deserved 5th. Anyways, the PQ holds power in Quebec when people are angry with either the PLQ or with the rest of Canada. The Parti Quebecois is led by the charismatic Andre Boisclair, a gay "former" cokehead (he used the drug while being a member of Bernard Landry's cabinet) considered to be on the right wing of the party and friendly to the neo-liberal agenda.
The Parti Liberal du Quebec has gone from being the social democratic and nationalist architect of the legendary Quiet Revolution to being just another neo-liberal party. Unpopular leader Jean Charest is no bigot (although his sexual escapdes with sheep and other barnyard animals are well-known :lol: ), but he's been riding the neo-liberal bandwagon since his days in Mulrotten's Tory cabinet. The PLQ favours some autonomy for Quebec relative to Canada's other provinces but is generally a federalist party. Its federalist-separatist ratio is almost the inverse of the PQ's and it has been Quebec's natural governing party since the fall of the far-right Union Nazionale (sic).
The Action Democratique du Quebec/Equipe Mario Dumont is a libertarian-conservative party centred around the young and charismatic former Young Liberals leader Mario Dumont, nicknamed Super Mario. It favours extensive privatisation and a reversal of the economic (but not the social and cultural) reforms of the Quiet Revolution. While extremely weak on Montreal Island, it has a following in the old Union Nationale heartland and has typically won a good 15% of the vote in recent elections (I remember about 11% in 1998 and about 18% in 2003, disappointing for a party that at times led the polls going into the election.). This support has not translated into very many seats due to deficiencies of Canada's electoral systems. While I don't like this party at all, I think its sad to see anybody screwed by unfair electoral systems. Oddly enough, this party enjoys smidgen of support from the left due to its perception as being outside of Quebec's political status quo. The fringe, which probably accounts for less than 5% of the party's support, tends to vote NDP federally if they bother to vote at all. About half of its support is separatist, the party signed an agreement with the BQ and the PQ to support the yes side of the 1995 referendum, and the party now tends to be vague about its position on Quebec's future within Canada, using poorly-defined buzzwords like "autonomism".
Quebec Solidaire is a merger between the democratic socialist Union des Forces Progressistes and the left-wing feminist party Option Citoyenne (Citizens' Option, although Citoyenne is the feminin form of Citoyen). The UFP won under 2% of the vote in the 2003 provincial elections while Option Citoyenne is a new party. The UFP was a marger between the Democratic Socialist Party (a Quebec wing of the NDP that was disafilliated for electing former FLQ leader Paul Rose as its leader), the Communist Party, and some small far-left separatist party. The main ideologies espoused by Option Citoyenne include democratic socialism, anarcho-socialism, and radical feminism. While much of its support is bourgeois and student-based due to the working-class unions being controlled by the PQ, it's the only party in Quebec openly condemning the neo-liberal agenda. While the UFP didn't really have a leader or a formal hierarchy, the new party may...I don't really know as much about it. QS takes a separatist stance but has federalist members that share its other convictions.
The Parti Vert du Quebec is a small left-leaning ecologist party that has sometimes worked in informal coalitions with the UFP. Unlike most ecologist parties in Canada, the PVQ is not eco-capitalist.