It might seem there's not much drama in Quebec's election on Monday. Nobody really doubts that Jean Charest and his Liberals will win more seats than any other party.
But after the past week in Ottawa, the question of minority or majority suddenly looms awfully large. For that reason we say that, faute de mieux, a Liberal majority government would be the best result for Quebecers.
We earnestly wish we could muster more enthusiasm for the governing party. But like many of our readers, we resent the way Charest has taken anglophone and allophone support for granted, and regret the way he has short-changed the best interests of the Montreal area.
After the March 2007 election we hoped, like many across Quebec, that the emergence of the Action démocratique du Québec as the official opposition signalled a new era in our politics after 30 years of stale polarization over la question nationale. Mario Dumont's party seemed to offer hope that pressing new issues could be addressed and that old ones could be tackled outside the Yes-No straightjacket that has immobilized our politics.
Sadly, Dumont and his caucus of small-town small minds have let Quebec down badly. Cruel cartoons made the ADQ caucus out to be a kindergarten class; the reality was not much better. During the minority National Assembly Dumont and his senior people adopted some hard-headed positions, such as urging Charest to tackle the province's ever-greater debt, courageously demanding that the electoral map be made fairer to the Montreal region and, more controversially, demanding a shakeup in the education system.
But they undid that good work with scatter-brained proposals and with backward views on reasonable accommodation. Quebec's new hope turned out to have a narrowly parochial sense of Quebec's "nous." Regretfully, we conclude that the ADQ is very far from being ready to govern, and is not even ready to be the official opposition.
As for the Parti Québécois, well, readers will not be surprised to learn that we still have no time for their central policy, nor for the never-ending visit to the dentist that they propose to herd us toward the Glorious Day. Sovereignty was, is, and will be a damaging "solution" to a problem that does not exist.
That leaves the Liberals. Shamefully, they still have not explained their botched handling of suburban demergers, a bare-faced betrayal of their most loyal voters. Despite the efforts of West End and West Island Liberal MNAs, this year's Bill 22 was a mere Band-Aid over the festering sore: The way metropolitan Montreal is governed is still a mess. Meanwhile, Charest chose to reduce the anglophone contingent in his cabinet to a historic Liberal low, one lone rookie minister. The premier could scarcely take our community any more for granted.
But the Liberals are all we're left with. And they have done some things well - tackling the highway-infrastructure crisis with resolve and money; improving Quebec's relations with other governments; and allowing tuition fees to creep upward (while adding support for needy students).
Some of their campaign planks, notably an ambitious but sensible "Northern Plan," are also solid. Charest's advocacy of Canada-European Union free trade has been shown to be more than a pipe dream and deserves further exploration.
The Liberals' front bench is significantly the strongest of the three, and some promising newcomers will make it better.
Unfortunately, we don't know, as our columnist Don Macpherson wrote early in the campaign, which Liberal Party we'll be electing. Will it be the lucid reformist one we chose in 2003 to tackle some of our problems, or the do-nothing one we elected in 2007, content to let long-term woes pile up provided their poll numbers hold up?
This campaign has been less candid than most. As if pretending that the economy is still booming, all parties promised billions in new spending on the usual laundry lists of "investments." With tax revenue about to fall off a cliff, the festival of promises has been serenely surreal. We wish our would-be leaders didn't take us for idiots.
Still, somebody's got to govern. As we have just seen in Ottawa, minorities can lead to paralysis, or worse, as every party maneuvers for short-term advantage. A majority Liberal government would give Charest four years to make some courageous decisions and deal with the budgetary, demographic and social-policy challenges that threaten Quebec's future well-being.
Even if you live in a safe Liberal riding, voting is worthwhile: A strong popular vote percentage could strengthen Charest's resolve to really govern, rather than just hold office. Let's give the Liberals a chance to accomplish what needs doing.