Philippe Gohier

Just two months after pledging his unequivocal support for Pauline Marois, Gilles Duceppe is reportedly angling for her job

Ipsos Reid asked all 308 members of Parliament to nominate the best MPs

Embattled minister doesn’t bother to tell organizers

The Polaris Prize isn’t a popularity contest, and Arcade Fire are very popular

A new poll shows that 10 years after 9/11, Canadians aren’t concerned about the threat of terrorism

Capping immigration won’t do anything to protect the French language

My colleague Alec Castonguay, who toils over at our sister publication L’actualité, posted a first-rate interview with Pauline Marois earlier this week that’s a must-read for anyone interested in the Parti Québécois’ ongoing travails. Among the things that stood out to me was Marois’s apparent doubling-down on the policies that drove away four members of her caucus earlier this summer—namely, her insistence that a referendum shouldn’t be top-of-mind for the party. Of the nascent Nouveau Mouvement pour le Québec, aka the new home of sovereigntist hardliners in Quebec, Marois says they “should start from where Quebecers are at… There isn’t a crazy appetite for sovereignty, even if polls have us at 40-45 per cent ,” she says. (CROP pegs support for sovereignty at 38 per cent and Léger at 36 per cent, but let’s not quibble.) “Renewal isn’t about waiting for the referendum.”

Good luck finding a top-grossing act these days with a young lead singer

A history of bad design choices now haunts the city as its bridges, roads and tunnels crumble

I had only two close encounters with Jack Layton. The first was back in late 2002 or early 2003, when he and some members of McGill’s NDP club came into Café Santropol, where I was waiting tables. I can’t quite remember whether he’d already won the NDP leadership or whether he was still campaigning for it. Either way, I knew who he was and was glad when he ended up sitting in my section.

Yet another MNA quits the Parti Québécois over its referendum policy

It’s hard to feel much sympathy for PQ leader Pauline Marois. It was an absolutely terrible idea for the PQ to support bill 204, which would immunize Quebecor’s arena rental deal with Quebec City from being tested before the province’s courts. It was an even worse idea for her to be petty and belligerent about it. The word ‘comeuppance’ keeps coming to mind.