2005 Parti Québécois leadership election


The Parti Québécois leadership election of 2005 was held from November 13 to November 15, 2005 to elect the new leader of the Parti Québécois, the main sovereigntist and social democratic political party in Quebec, Canada.
It was the second race of its kind in the history of the party, following the leadership election of 1985. It was conducted in two rounds, under a preferential voting system. Former Minister André Boisclair was elected at the first round ballot with 53.7% of votes from party members, making him the first openly gay leader of a major political party in North America, and one of the first in the world.

Unfolding

Background

On June 4, 2005, party leader Bernard Landry announced his intention to resign as leader of the PQ after getting 76.2% in a vote of confidence in his leadership from delegates to the party National Council. The party appointed Louise Harel as its interim leader. Gilles Duceppe, leader of the federal-level sovereigntist political party, the Bloc Québécois, was expected to be a strong candidate if he had decided to run. On June 11, he however announced that he would remain leader of the Bloc despite pressure to make a bid for the leadership of the PQ.

Campaign

After months of pre-campaign, the race officially began on September 15, 2005, the official deadline for entering the race. Soon, Boisclair emerged as a favorite in the polls, with Pauline Marois second, Richard Legendre a close third and Louis Bernard fourth. The validity of these polls, much touted by the media, was however challenged by some candidate organizations since they were conducted on the whole population of Quebec, rather than the actual voter pool, the legal members of the Parti Québécois. Also criticized was the intense media focus on the four candidates leading in these said polls, leaving the ideas of the other candidates in the dark. The later were much less discussed and their opening monologues were even cut for pundit commentary in LCN live broadcastings of the official candidates' debates.
A controversy made some impression, albeit briefly, on the campaign: the said Affaire Boisclair. On September 10, 2005, Le Devoir columnist Michel David referred in his column to a relatively unnoticed past article of Le Droit alluding to rumours of André Boisclair having lived a wild younger life and taken cocaine. Boisclair initially recognized a youth of partying and mistakes. Days later, after much media pressure, he admitted having "consumed". Ironically, this only made his popularity stronger in polling, something credited by pundits to popular sympathy in the face of the weight of the media scrutiny. The fact that Boisclair came out in 2000 on the subject of his homosexuality did not hampered his campaign either. Polls showed that more than 90% of Quebecers were not opposed to a gay Premier of Quebec. On public perceptions, Pauline Marois also raised the theory that her campaign was hurt by the fact that she is female.
Boisclair being the frontrunner, he became the target of many other candidates and their supporters. Adding to the wild past problematic, some progressive militants put into question Boisclair's left-wing values. A group of most progressive candidates, Pierre Dubuc, Jean Ouimet, Gilbert Paquette and Jean-Claude St-André, soon grew closer to Marois, not only because of her experience and her safer known past, but also because of perceived stronger progressive values. Shortly before the vote, Paquette withdrew, announcing his support for Marois. The SPQ-Libre asked the Dubuc supporters to vote Marois as second choice, as did Ouimet. Ghislain Lebel asked his supporters to vote for Boisclair on the second ballot.

Ideas

A number of ideas were put forward by the candidates, especially during the official candidates' debates held across Quebec. Amongst others, André Boisclair expounded a debt reduction plan and spoke of free higher education provided by the state. Richard Legendre talked much of more autonomy for Quebec regions. Pauline Marois spoke of water nationalization in an eventual Eau-Québec, like what was created with Hydro-Québec for electricity during the Quiet Revolution. Speaking much about the struggle against poverty, Dubuc, Ouimet and Paquette showed themselves favourable to a guaranteed minimum income system, something that Marois agreed to.
Many candidates declared their intention to put an accent on public transportation and wind power. Lebel was noted for the humour he brought to the debates. However, he was a black sheep of this progressive panel with more conservative ideas. St-André defended the ideas of the pur et dur party stream, notably that of making gestures of rupture with the rest of Canada, sovereign state actions before sovereignty and contrary to the Canadian constitution. The strongest consensus between all candidates was that most of these projects were possible through and only through national independence.

Vote

The voting was conducted by phone from November 13 to November 15, 2005 through a system used for popular votes for the Star Académie television show. The winner of the party leadership election was declared on November 15, 2005. The date was chosen in honour of the anniversary of the first electoral victory of the Parti Québécois. The election worked under a system of preferential voting in two rounds.

Public debates

The seven public debates were orchestrated by election president Lyne Marcoux. They were broadcast live via the Parti Québécois official website, pq.org, and the LCN television news channel. In order to allow substantial and orderly exchanges with such a number of people, every occasion was divided into a series of three discussions, amongst three candidates each. Candidate groupings were set at random. Additionally, for every debate, opening and closing speeches were addressed, and selected questions from the audience and the internet were debated. This selection was executed by an impartial panel led by Monique Richard, the party president.

Solidarity and public finances

The debate on solidarity and public finances took place on September 21, 2005 in Sherbrooke. On solidarity, the project of a guaranteed minimum income gathered Dubuc, Marois, Paquette and Ouimet. Boisclair said himself open to a debate on free higher education covered by the state and declared education his priority. He presented a public debt reduction plan. A fierce confrontation occurred between St-André and Boisclair when the former repeatedly challenged the latter to engage himself in fighting corporate tax evasion, which he finally did. Boisclair also defended the Zero Deficit policy of the previous Parti Québécois government of Lucien Bouchard, of which Boisclair was part.

Sustainable development and economy

The debate on sustainable development and economy took place on September 28, 2005 in Montreal. Most candidates communicated their intent on putting an accent on public transportation and wind power. Marois again spoke of water nationalization in an eventual Eau-Québec. Richard Legendre sparked a feud with Boisclair about the latter's alleged slowness to trigger a referendum. Legendre also criticized the way Boisclair adopted his moratorium on pigsties while being Minister of the Environment.

Culture

The debate on culture took place on October 12, 2005 in Trois-Rivières. Ouimet underlined that making sure artists never fall into the poverty gap is the way to have a healthy culture in Quebec. A discussion on the Charter of the French Language took place.

Sovereignty and leadership

The debate on sovereignty and leadership took place on October 19, 2005 in Quebec City. Since the method and haste to attain independence is often a burning subject in the party, the media projected it as the most tumultuous of the seven. According to them, it ended up being the calmest.

Territory

The debate on territory took place on October 26, 2005 in Rimouski.

Education

The debate on education took place on November 2, 2005 in Saguenay.

Health

The debate on health took place on November 9, 2005 in Gatineau.

Candidates

Official

Candidates listed have collected at least 1000 signatures from 40 different ridings, with a minimum of 10 signatures per riding. By order of official candidacy.

Timeline

Former Minister André Boisclair was elected leader of the Parti Québécois at the first round ballot. The turnout was around 76% of party members.
*: Gilbert Paquette withdrew and asked his supporters to vote for Pauline Marois on November 10, 2005.

The results are shown as announced by election officials on PQ website.

Election