Populist ADQ

Despite being the only party to advocate some decent free market policies (although selling 7% of Hydro Quebec hardly counts), if I were a Quebecker I'd think twice before ticking the ADQ box on the ballot.

First and foremost the ADQ seems to jump most bandwagons they can get a grip on. Today they jump on the "identity" one, while the PQ endorses the school course that teaches children about different religions. I have qualms with the way it being fed to children with no option for parents to opt out. However it is a valuable addition to the curriculum, and may avoid embarrassments when the ignorance of certain members of the general populace is exposed for all to see and hear (Bouchard-Taylor commission, anyone?). If one's a true libertarian or Tory one advocates choice (i.e. opt-outs). Dumont waving the history and identity flags is just the caricature of a party desperate for support, appealing to all fringes ending up appealing to no-one.

Besides, this isn't the first instance of Dumont's erratic judgment. A few months ago he sought to bring down the Quebec government over the low turnout in school board elections, presumably because people cared. Had they really, turnout would've been higher.

The ADQ election posters decorating (note: sarcasm) Montreal's streets in their befuddling triviality deliver one message: the campaign team should think twice on their slogans. "Donnez-vous le pouvoir" is as redundant as some of Dumont's rhetoric. Quebeckers already have the power, and I fear they're going to use it against him in a few weeks' time.

And not a moment too soon, if you ask me. With the current economic situation a Quebec version of Berlusconi would be a disaster. His populist tendencies, combined with an evident one-man show party and a mercurial character make him unfit as Premier. Right now, at least.