Andre Boisclair wins PQ leadership vote
Updated: Wed. Nov. 16 2005 8:00 AM ET
Parti Quebecois' members have chosen Andre Boisclair to lead them into the next election, and beyond that, lead his province out of Canada.
Boisclair, 39, won on the first ballot Tuesday evening, beating out seven other candidates.
The telegenic, openly gay career politician captured 53.7 per cent of the first-round choices, compared to 30.6 per cent for his main rival, former cabinet minister Pauline Marois.
"I accept with humility and with great enthusiasm the mandate you have given me,'' Boisclair told party members in Quebec City.
Boisclair reached out to Marois, a party veteran: "Pauline, we need you. Pauline, you've always had a large role in this party and you will always have a large role.''
And he issued the words the hardline sovereigntists wanted to hear.
"Two things are clear for us now: First, in the next election campaign, the Parti Quebecois will seek a mandate to hold a referendum on Quebec sovereignty as soon as possible,'' he said to loud cheers.
"And we will present Quebecers with a plan to give them a country.''
The party's 140,000 members were asked to give first, second, third and fourth choices when they voted by telephone. More than 104,000 cast ballots.
The road ahead
Now that he's won the leadership, Boisclair will be facing a tough task in a party that has not been kind to its leaders.
Former leader Bernard Landry quit unexpectedly in June after getting an approval rating he considered tepid. Other leaders, including legends like Rene Levesque, Jacques Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard, also left on unhappy terms.
The first priority for the PQ will be preparing for an election battle with the provincial Liberal government led by Premier Jean Charest. The Liberals are unpopular right now, but Charest can wait until 2008 to trigger an election.
During the leadership race, Boisclair was dogged by one issue: his cocaine use while a young cabinet minister in Bouchard's government.
"I know a lot of people who take the same thing as him, and they are good people, and they are people who can work and do good work," said Boisclair supporter Ursula Laroche, a Quebec fleur-de-lis flag in her hair, on Tuesday night. "He said it was past and I believe him."
Obviously, the PQ membership forgave him, but some pundits think the Charest team might try to make that an issue.
Boisclair took more heat for his handling of questions about his drug use than he did about the drug use itself.
The thin, brittle skin he showed during the episode was surprising in some ways, considering Boisclair is essentially a lifelong politician. Voters first elected him to the Quebec legislature at age 23.
As a cabinet minister, he held portfolios such as environment and municipal affairs and was opposition house leader when he left politics in August 2004 to study leadership at Harvard.
His plan had been to work in the private sector in Toronto before returning to political life in Quebec. But Landry's resignation changed that.
During his campaign, Boisclair had reached out to ethnic communities. He had once criticized "fundamentalist" elements within the PQ.
Fiscally, he is considered conservative, but is progressive on social issues. Some of the more left-wing members of the PQ had criticized Boisclair during the leadership race for his economic views.
Questionable ballots
There had been some problems with the telephone voting system the past few days.
A party source told The Globe and Mail that a long-haired Chihuahua and a houseplant were able to register as PQ members and received all the necessary credentials needed to cast a telephone vote.
The houseplant was registered under the name "Gilbert Laplante"; the dog even received a birthday card recently from interim party leader Louise Harel.
"The system is riddled with potential fraudulent practices that are difficult to monitor," the source told The Globe.
While the party says it has taken every precaution to prevent meddling with the voting system, these alleged incidents could mean a brewing scandal.
"At this point, we haven't heard any serious complaints about any massive problems," CTV's Jed Kahane said Tuesday night in Quebec City.
