Before someone throws rotten tomatoes at me, be aware that the title of my article is a joke. I did this to place my title in opposition with my friend’s and colleague’s biased article title on this topic (Repenti means Repented). I took this story from him. Houssein and I like each others.

The former ADQ candidate from the 1998 elections of the Jean-Talon riding in Quebec City, Martin Beaudin-Lecours, wrote on his blog why he won’t be voting for the ADQ this time around.

He is not a career politician, but a multimedia programmer, and he is not the first to change his mind on which party to vote for, and certainly not the last.

I find his analysis interesting, although I disagree with him on a few issues. It is obvious that the ADQ vote is a vote against the establishment. But what seems to irritate him with the ADQ is that:

Translation: In summary, as the years went by, the ADQ became the gathering of those who whine against the elite.

The left will be happy to learn that. The ADQ would be against the elite. Certainly not the right one would expect. The right that sleeps with the bosses, who wished to make rich people richer and exploit the poor. Come on Martin

Of course the ADQ whine and claims and wants changes, but it is certainly not exclusively aimed at the elite. Since its creation, the ADQ has put the finger on a lot of things that weren’t going well in the society. Unfortunatly for them, during the 2003 elections, the Liberals took many of the issues raised by the ADQ, especially about revamping the State bureaucracy, and promised to implement their solutions. Half fulfilled promises, must I remind you.

M. Beaudin-Lecours, also claims the ADQ doesn’t propose concrete solutions to the raised issues. However, Dumont does indeed announce one concrete solution per day since the beginning of this campaign. Could this solution benifit from being further described in an economic context? Clearly.

M. Beaudin-Lecours also criticizes the autonomist constitutional stand of the ADQ, qualifying it as irresponsible.

I personally find just as irresponsible the fact the Liberal party has absolutely no stand on the issue of Quebec re-insertion in the 1982 constitution on their platform. Jean Charest seems to be quite happy with the status quo. I also find irresponsible that the Parti Québécois keeps hitting us with their sovereignist option that Quebecers rejected twice.

He also seems to blame Dumont for being populist and opportunist, even saying that Liberals never used this tactic. Whoa. And to tell older people they would lose their pension isn’t being populist? All political parties are demagogues. It’s inevitable. Let’s stop diabolising one or the other please.

The point where he and I connect is when he wishes that Quebec gets a minority government. It’s paradoxally during minority governments, at the federal level anyway, that the government is listening to opposition parties, coalitions and negociations oblige. Ironically too, is that he wishes a minority government, which can only become a reality should the ADQ gain enough riding. So in a way, he wishes well to the ADQ, but simply doesn’t want to promote it. Do I get it right?

I’m wondering what his reasons are to write this article. Is that a way to get back to his former leader? Did he simply change his mind? It doesn’t really matter though, discussions pushes the debate forward.

All for the better.

brem