Oh, how quickly things have changed for Mario Dumont. Just a year ago, the media-annointed premier-in-waiting could do no wrong. Now, his party isn’t exactly splitting at the seams, but the luster on Super Mario and the ADQ definitely seems to be fading.
Oh, how quickly things have changed for Mario Dumont. Just a year ago, the media-annointed premier-in-waiting could do no wrong. Now, his party isn’t exactly splitting at the seams, but the luster on Super Mario and the ADQ definitely seems to be fading.
Gilles Taillon, the party’s only recognizable name other than Dumont, is facing a mini-revolt in his riding. ADQ vice-president Sylvie Tremblay just abruptly (and loudly) quit the party, calling it “frightening” in the process. And Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, who’d very publicly split from the Parti Québécois and pledged his vote to Dumont in the last election, now says he’s not so enamoured with the ADQ anymore. VLB’s defection is hardly the most important of the bunch, but what he had to say about it seems especially telling:
I don’t have much respect for Mario Dumont. He’s bitterly disappointed me ever since he became leader of the opposition. Not only does he get $50,000 under the table from his party while refusing to explain a deal no one’s heard of, the ideals he claimed to want to defend-national identity, culture, language-have all melted like snow under the sun.
So, people in Gilles Taillon’s riding are annoyed because they expected more from the ADQ. Sylvie Tremblay is annoyed because she expected more. And Victor Lévy-Beaulieu, well, he’s always annoyed, but he expected more, too.
After stoking every fire available during the election campaign, there’s a feeling Dumont and the ADQ should perhaps get working on putting some of them out. The problem is, even with their newfound clout, the ADQ’s toolbox doesn’t appear to contain anything more than lighter fluid.
UPDATE: The ADQ is tanking in the polls.