The moment it was clear the Quebec Liberals would have a couple more seats than either of the other parties, all the newsreaders and all the commentators declared Jean Charest would lead a minority government. Paul Wells, the best political blogger in Canada, has a contest to see how few shifted votes it would have needed in order to give the ADQ more seats than the Liberals -- and make Mario Dumont premier.
It's as if we already had list-PR in this country and that there were not 125 MNAs elected but really only three -- the three party bosses. Or that all that mattered was which leader was given the most tally sticks.
Strictly speaking, there was no certainty that Jean Charest would remain premier if his party got the most seats, or that he would cease to be premier if another party got a few more.
Sure, Premier Charest had the right to remain in office until defeated in the National Assembly. And leaving the Liberals in government seemed to be the preference of both Action Democratique and the PQ. But those are calculations and should have been reported as such. Should the two other parties choose to cooperate, Charest's tenure as premier would be over.
In a parliamentary democracy, simply having a couple more seats than either of the rival parties does not confer the keys to the premier's office. Sad that so few of our politicologues know it, in Quebec or here in RoC.
