Two angry men

Photo by dszpiro via Flickr

Jean Charest was likely smiling — at least on the inside — when he announced in Sherbrooke today that his daughter Amélie will give birth to a daughter of her own in December.

But the premier was icy last night, when he took on CAQ leader François Legault in the third of four televised debates this week.

As expected, Legault, Jacques Duchesneau’s bossman, contended that the premier has let corruption run rampant in the province. Charest countered by saying that perhaps Quebec’s white knight’s record ain’t so sparkling, pointing to dubious fundraising during Duchesneau’s 1998 run for Montreal’s mayorship.

Charest also took shots at what he believes are Legault’s flimsy political convictions — that he’s a sovereignist who says he’d vote no in a referendum and so on. And while Legault looked heated, the premier pretty much stayed poker-faced.

But, yeah, enough debate details. What about those all-important, super-meaningful pre-election polls? According to one commissioned by the National Post, 35 per cent of Quebecers (or, uh, of “1,602 telephone respondents surveyed”) said they’d vote Liberal after Sunday’s four-leader shit show, putting the party ahead of the formerly-in-the-hypothetical-lead PQ.

One thing, however, is certain: In two weeks, this will all be over with. Huzzah! ■