Charest's credibility gap

By Philippe Gohier - Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 5:56 PM - 25 Comments

Never mind that the inquiry Jean Charest called to look into judicial nominations in the province doesn’t get at the heart of the controversy surrounding his government—namely, that a former justice minister says he saw Liberal bagmen collecting cash donations to circumvent party donation rules. Even when it comes to the limited scope of Michel Bastarache’s inquiry, it’s getting hard to believe Charest isn’t already sunk, whether or not his government is eventually exonerated.

Consider the government’s confusion over whether or not the judicial nomination process was indeed changed after Charest’s election in 2003. The current minister’s own assistant tells Le Devoir the list of potential candidates for judgeships is shared with the provincial cabinet before the nomination is made. After the justice minister makes his or her recommendation, “the cabinet will look at the other candidates and make a decision,” she says. Under the previous system, the justice minister alone would make the final decision, though it would be presented to the cabinet as a “recommendation” which would then invariably rubber-stamp it.

Continue…

Instant live big by-election update!

By Martin Patriquin - Monday, May 12, 2008 at 10:41 PM - 0 Comments

The status quo reigned tonight, with the PQ winning in two of the three by-elections, as predicted. Charest’s Liberals won in Hull. The ADQ was shut out completely, garnering nary a second place finish – despite two star candidates and a patented ‘blame the immigrants’ campaign in Bourget. “The ADQ drifts toward marginality,” reads the headline on canoe.ca.

As they say in these parts, ‘ayoye.’