The hot-button issue of natural-resource development is fast becoming another political liability for the Charest government.
Chances are it's already crippling the Liberal brand as much as the premier's stubborn refusal, for two years now, to set up a public inquiry into the construction industry, patronage and the financing of political parties.
Both issues betray this government's marked bias toward the Liberal-friendly private sector, all too often to the detriment of the interests of the taxpayer.
In that, they both fall under the heading of "Beware: potential ethical problems ahead."
The fact is that in Quebec, as in all advanced societies, the crucial issue of how to benefit from, control and regulate the exploitation of natural resources while respecting the environment has become a sensitive topic of collective interest.
There's no denying resources are a central part of Quebec's long-term economic development.
On that front, the Charest government has moved in ways that increasingly raise suspicion that it might be selling out some of those essential resources to private interests, be they foreign, based in the rest of Canada, or here.
For months now, the controversial and environmentally risky exploration of shale gas in some populated regions by well-connected Liberalfriendly companies has angered and worried a growing proportion of Quebecers.
On Tuesday, a Senergis poll for Le Devoir showed that 55 per cent of Quebecers oppose even the first phase of exploration of shale gas. Last September, opponents were 35 per cent.
Then on Wednesday there were reports of another Senergis poll, this one for the Reseau des ingenieurs du Quebec, finding that 59 per cent of engineers are dead set against the exploitation of shale gas and 75 per cent approve of a moratorium on the industry long enough to do environmental studies.
Even more devastating for Charest is that 76 per cent of these engineers are convinced that the government "acts mainly in the interest of the industry." Now that hurts. But it also shows how widespread that perception of the Liberal government has become in Quebec.
Yesterday, a study by the Institut de recherche et d'informations socioeconomiques concluded, contrary to the industry's claims, that shale gas isn't "clean energy" and that its exploitation could actually cost taxpayers billions to service the industry's public infrastructure needs across the territory.
So for Quebecers, how the government has handled the issue of energy-based natural resources raises worries that collectively they won't benefit much from it, and that protection of the environment isn't exactly the industry's primary interest.
For the government, it's becoming a political nightmare.
Next week, Charest will try to convince Quebecers otherwise as he delivers a speech that is sure to address this thorny issue.
He'll also turn to former PQ premier Lucien Bouchard, a fellow former federal Conservative minister, in the hope that he can assuage the growing anger out there.
On Monday, Bouchard will officially start his new job as president of the shale gas industry's main lobby group, the Association petroliere et gaziere du Quebec.
But Charest's problem is that people know Bouchard was recruited by the Albertabased company Talisman Energy Inc., where one of Charest's former chiefs of staff also happens to work.
Moreover -as I first reported three weeks ago on my blog at voir.ca-Talisman Energy will also be paying for Bouchard. That's no small detail for a former premier who proposes to create a "consensus" between the industry and the population.
Chances are that as charismatic as Bouchard might be, most Quebecers won't find much credibility in someone whose services are being paid by an industry that they clearly do not trust.