Mario DUMONT - DOA

From what I can tell on Radio-Canada, Mr. Jean CHAREST has won a stronger mandate in the Quebec Election. Liberal 66 seats +18; Parti Quebecois 51 seats +15; Action Democratic 7 seats -34 and Independents 2 seats +2. Mario DUMONT has resigned as leader of the ADQ after making abject apologies to voters for his inexperience during the last session and promised to do better after this election. Quebec voters were clearly unmoved. It was also a vindication for PQ leader Pauline MAROIS who fought hard to gain the leadership and has had trouble connecting with voters.

Not sure what this will mean for Public Policy except the narrow majority shall no longer mean accommodating the ADQ and make governing easier. Voter turnout at 57% was lower than in 2007 at 71%.

It was unfortunate that federal politics probably pushed the Parti Quebecois vote up in the last two weeks. The next election may be the the Federal one. A resurgence of the PQ may hinder the BQ presence in Ottawa as there is a line of thought that suggests voters like to have "dynamic tension" in the political balance between provincial and federal parties. This would be good for the federal Conservatives.