I’m a fan of Ian Austen’s coverage<\/a>\u00a0 of Canadian news for the New York Times. Austen reported on the protest situation back in May<\/a>. The increase in anti-government feeling is nicely summarized in another article<\/a> in June.<\/p>\n As Austen explained, it’s far from a minor issue:<\/p>\n … when the provincial government of Quebec tried to end the demonstrations by arresting more than 2,500 people and passing an emergency law that some Canadian lawyers consider heavy-handed and perhaps unconstitutional, it helped turn what had been a narrowly focused student strike against increases in college and university costs into a battle over a broader set of grievances that has introduced some of the greatest political turmoil Canada has seen in decades.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Many wondered if the situation would force (or prompt) an election, which has come to pass<\/a>. (Timelines and full candidate lists can be found on this Wikipedia entry<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Quebec major party leaders: Premier Jean Charest, Liberal; Pauline Marois, Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois; and Fran\u00e7ois Legault, Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p><\/div>\n After a full month of campaigning, Quebeckers will have their say September 4th. Current Liberal Provincial Premier Jean Charest is seeking a fourth straight mandate, hoping he can rally the politician’s oft-invoked ‘silent majority’ of supportive voters at the ballot box – even as polls suggest high disapproval levels for his current leadership.<\/p>\n Student protest is not the only thing on voters’ minds. Among other issues like jobs and the economy, scandals involving allegations of corruption and criminality in Quebec’s construction industry loom large. And – as with most elections – competing political parties content they offer the best choice for general governance. This being Quebec, arguments surrounding sovereignty – dormant of late, but never truly gone –\u00a0 may heat up once again.<\/p>\n As a rule, Canadians much prefer that their relatively short elections take place in the spring or fall. It seems to be considered bad form – almost rude – to call one in summer or winter. After all, winters present logistical difficulties for campaigning. Summers here are seen as scared – on account of waiting all blessed year for a too-short season of warm relaxation.<\/p>\n August, in particular, is supposed to be a safe time to take a vacation or just savor family life. It is most definitely not<\/strong> when most people want to listen to political speeches or volunteer to help campaign. No, those who can would far rather be having a nice, news-free stay at the cottage.<\/p>\n The Globe and Mail’s political columnist John Ibbitson had an interactive Q&A<\/a> on the election on Wednesday. He painted the big picture this way:<\/p>\n The chances of a Liberal victory are about even-odds, I’d guess. Yes, corruption scandals have hurt the Liberals, but the PQ isn’t exactly beloved, leader Pauline Marois is unpopular, and the new Coalition Avenir Quebec is, well, new. As for whether I think one party should win, I leave that to Quebec voters to decide.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Calling Charest “a superb campaigner” Ibbitson is among many who see the timing as a strategic maneuver:<\/p>\n He’s clearly calling this election in the doldrums of summer to dampen interest in the race. Then he hopes to outcampaign Ms. Marois, shoring up support from whoever is interested. It’s pretty opportunistic, but when you’re down the the polls and seeking a fourth mandate, you do what you gotta do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Writing in Maclean’s Magazine, Paul Wells<\/a> offered up a re-cap of Charest’s record to date – and his prospects looking forward.<\/p>\n Charest is instead running as the candidate of normality, as the devil you know, or as the regular guy you know under whom the only devils who run free are the devils you already know. The alternatives, he\u2019ll argue, are \u201cthe street and a referendum,\u201d a reference to the PQ\u2019s support for tuition-fee protesters and to its sovereignty project. I\u2019m watching him deliver his kick-off speech at Quebec City\u2019s airport, promising \u201cpeace\u201d and \u201cstability\u201d in an election that \u201cis not like others.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I live in Ontario. Despite sporadic attempts to remedy the deficit, I don’t have any French to speak of. And I don’t know a lot of Quebec residents. So my limited sense of this election comes from media accounts, which can’t always deliver the whole flavor of events like this.<\/p>\n A French-language leaders debate has been scheduled by a media consortium for August 9, amid complaints<\/a> about who gets to participate.<\/p>\n As\u00a0 local coverage often adds more depth and perspective, here’s a link for the summary page of election coverage <\/a>by the Montreal Gazette.<\/p>\n The Gazette reports that student protest groups<\/a> have made defeating Charest a top priority. There are risks<\/a> for a resumption of student street protests, which took a two month break over the summer. Some are calling for an election truce on the theory that renewed disruptions would boost Charest’s standing with the many who want peace and order. Some protests resumed this week<\/a>, including demonstrations that led to injuries and arrests<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Montreal Gazette reports that Quebec’s largest student group has come out on Friday in support of continuing the current mobilization<\/a> in August and beyond, regardless of the election’s outcome. CLASSE co-spokesperson Camille Robert hopes a protest scheduled for Aug. 22 can be\u00a0 “the biggest protest in an election period in Quebec history,” (By the way, the Gazette also has a summary page<\/a> for its reporting on the student strike, in case you’re interested.)<\/p>\n There are many reasons smoke and heat from the tuition protest have been mainly confined to Quebec. Differences in culture, in politics and even in the structure of student unions. Even though tuition is higher outside of Quebec, Carleton University journalism student Brian Platt argues<\/a> that most student unions across the rest of Canada function in a way that practically guarantees limited student engagement.<\/p>\n If you’re from Quebec and can share views from that vantage point, please do!<\/p>\n And, as usual, civil comments from all readers are always welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I generally hunt and gather an odd array of topics and try to give politics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[880,6550,20,1124,6944,6946],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6373,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6338\/revisions\/6373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/files\/2012\/08\/qcpartyleaders.jpg\" "\\"qcpartyleaders\\"")