2009 in review

In December 2008, just after Jean Charest’s third consecutive election victory, I wrote this: “Like Bourassa, Charest has positioned himself as both a critic of the federal government and a supporter of the federation.” At the time, I thought it was Charest who’d turned a corner, who’d come to understand that nationalism is an essential characteristic of Quebec politics, and that it could be embraced and molded to fit even a federalist’s political agenda. I wrote it half-expecting Charest to spend 2009 burnishing his Captain Quebec credentials by picking meaningless fights with the federal government. But, barring a few minor exceptions, those battles never materialized.