Who Would You Vote For?: Independent Quebec

[hcallega]

So let's assume that the 1995 refendum passes and then somehow, someway, Quebec becomes an independent nation. The historically Native American land remains in Canada, but the rest is party of Quebec. In the 2008 elections, PM Jean Charest of the Liberals is running for reelection and trying to keep his party in power. The official opposition is the conservative Action Democratique, led by the charismatic Mario Dumont. They shocked the electorate in 2007 by finishing in second. Finally the social democratic Parti Quebecois looks to regain opposition status, or maybe more!

Who would you support?
Liberal: Neoliberal on economics, liberal on social issues
Parti Quebecois: Social Democratic Party
Action Democratique: Conservative (center-right) party
Quebec Solidaire: Democratic Socialist Party

[Antonio the Sixth]

PQ, I guess.

[Barnes]

Can you describe Quebec Solidaire a little mroe?

[hcallega]

Can you describe Quebec Solidaire a little mroe?

In this reality basically just the far-left

[Dr. Cynic]

PQ

I consider myself more a Social Democrat than Democratic Socialist.

[Hash]

Politics in an independent Quebec would fairly obviously look nothing like otl provincial politics, for a countless number of reasons the biggest one being the PQ.

[Niemeyerite]

Uqbec solidaire. but here I voted Liberal because I am an idiot.

[hcallega]

Politics in an independent Quebec would fairly obviously look nothing like otl provincial politics, for a countless number of reasons the biggest one being the PQ.

How so? I mean obviously a major issue would be off the table, but wouldn't there still be a center, center-left, and center-right party structure?

[Hash]

Politics in an independent Quebec would fairly obviously look nothing like otl provincial politics, for a countless number of reasons the biggest one being the PQ.

How so? I mean obviously a major issue would be off the table, but wouldn't there still be a center, center-left, and center-right party structure?

Maybe (though a three-party structure is unlikely in Quebec), but it would be vastly different. The PQ's raison-d'etre being independence, and the result of that being that it has a big tent electorate which is demographically and sociologically quite disparate. Nobody will make me believe for a second that people who vote PQ on the North Shore are all hardcore social democrats like those who vote PQ in Hochelaga. Furthermore, the PLQ's latest incarnation in a federalist party drawing votes from different sectors of society would also mean that independence would force the PLQ to reincarnate itself into something or merge into something. It's actually quite fairly obvious that given Quebec's current political system and its domination by one issue, the disappearance of that issue would entail major changes.

[hcallega]

Politics in an independent Quebec would fairly obviously look nothing like otl provincial politics, for a countless number of reasons the biggest one being the PQ.

How so? I mean obviously a major issue would be off the table, but wouldn't there still be a center, center-left, and center-right party structure?

Maybe (though a three-party structure is unlikely in Quebec), but it would be vastly different. The PQ's raison-d'etre being independence, and the result of that being that it has a big tent electorate which is demographically and sociologically quite disparate. Nobody will make me believe for a second that people who vote PQ on the North Shore are all hardcore social democrats like those who vote PQ in Hochelaga. Furthermore, the PLQ's latest incarnation in a federalist party drawing votes from different sectors of society would also mean that independence would force the PLQ to reincarnate itself into something or merge into something. It's actually quite fairly obvious that given Quebec's current political system and its domination by one issue, the disappearance of that issue would entail major changes.

So what would you propose? Parizeau would be Prime Minister, and he was pretty left. Therefore I would assume that he would try to keep the PQ alive. The Liberal Party would probably stay around as a centrist/center-right party, and maybe the ADQ actually gains support as somewhat of a populist/nationalist conservative party. I suppose that the most awkward issue is that of Bouchard and the PQ. Obviously he wasn’t super duper leftist (zero-deficit after all), but at the same time I could definitely see him occupying a sort of Tony Blair role in the PQ. I could definitely see the three parties still existing, though I agree there would be significant changes in voting patterns and party allegiances.