The seven-day itch

Photo by Shahk via Flickr

One week to go. In a mere seven days, Quebecers will head to the polls and — well, shit, no one knows what they’ll do. But that’s not for lack of trying.

Based on a survey conducted by CROP for La Presse, the Globe and Mail, for instance, is calling a PQ minority, thanks to the CAQ’s surge in popularity. And over at the Gazette, James Mennie analyzes the same data and notes that while the Liberals received 35 per cent support on the island of Montreal, that seems to be their only real stronghold — at least among the 1,002 people polled, anyway.

So what’s Charest up to? Well, he caught a lot of people off-guard when he said he wanted to extend Bill 101 so that it covered federal institutions — banks, post offices etc. — in la belle province. He spent yesterday in Quebec City trying to stave off the CAQ, which Marois fears could form a coalition with his party if hers doesn’t win a majority.

Something else that surely scares Marois: Despite pledging allegiance to their plight, her party is losing its hold over students, some of whom fear it wants to turn Quebec into a “sterile bipartisan alternance.” In other words, like other youngish folks, they don’t plan to vote strategically. ■