Inside baseball, québécois style

The Quebec party leaders' debate was a kitchen-sink session without much apparent ideological difference. Boy, do they speak fast (disclosure: I only watched the first half hour in French). Messieurs Boisclair and Dumont seemed hyperactive relatives--performance, not politics. M. Charest seemed, for most of the show, a hobbit not aging especially well.

MEGO statistics ad infinitum from all three. Would an average citoyen(ne) not simply fade out? Plenty of devilish details: "competitive tax environment", yada yada. One was confronted with three passionate statisticians, if that is not an oxymoron; otherwise, three intense CFOs going at each other at a cocktail party--away from whom everyone else drifts. At least Mario Dumont appeared to advocate a greater private beau risque on health care.

Even the part of the debate on separation (l'avenir du Québec, the final section) had plenty of statistics from premier ministre Charest. M. Charest, a former leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party, did not himself sound "Canadian" - which makes one think.

It was a more serious effort at a debate than most federal ones, but any more enlightening? At least George Bush was not mentioned. To me, M. Charest seemed to come on strong at the end, but whether that perception is valid is something else. On the whole it was a very provincial encounter amongst petty nationalists.

Mark C.

Posted by markc at March 14, 2007 08:11 AM