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media review

Newly elected Action Democratique du Quebec Leader Gilles Taillon speaks to supporters in Quebec City on October 18, 2009.MATHIEU BELANGER/Reuters

On Sunday, the Action démocratique du Québec elected Gilles Taillon to replace Mario Dumont as party leader. Mr. Taillon beat out his rival, Eric Caire, by only two votes on the second ballot. The near-tie was the conclusion of a bitter and divisive leadership race that has left many in the Quebec press wondering whether there remains any hope for the future of the beleaguered party.

In an editorial published on Monday, La Presse's André Pratte opined that, with only seven seats in the National Assembly and only seven per cent support in recent polls, Mr. Taillon has a "colossal" amount of work ahead of him. Mr. Pratte contended that if Mr. Taillon is to have any hope at all of remedying the party's significant "credibility deficit," he will first have to find a way to unite his party.

With a few high profile Caire-supporters already turning their backs on the party, Le Soleil's Pierre-Paul Noreau opined that Mr. Taillon will have to "act quickly to extinguish any doubts in the minds of those who supported [Mr. Caire]rdquo; by showing that he is a "team player," despite his reputation to the contrary.

Mr. Taillon, whose policies many Caire supporters consider too centrist, faces the challenge of convincing the more staunchly right-wing party members to rally behind his vision for Quebec. In a post to her blogue, Chantal Hébert viewed his election as a sign that the party might be able to "emerge out of the margins of political debates" and re-establish itself as a force to be reckoned with in the province.

Not everyone sees Mr. Taillon's more moderate politics as a boon to the party. Le Journal de Quebec's Michel Hébert opined that it would be unwise for the ADQ to " dilute its traditional positions and move towards the centre." Mr. Hébert argued that "the Quebec that inspired the ADQ has not changed. It's the Quebec of Denys Arcand films: over-governed, passive and ruled by a maternal technocracy."

In his Monday column, La Presse's Vincent Marissal reminded readers that on top of the massive task of rebuilding a divided party, Mr. Taillon's most pressing concern in the short term is his own health. Mr. Taillon has prostate cancer and is currently undergoing radiation treatments. Mr. Marissal gave Mr. Taillon credit for being a person who is clearly "not afraid of a challenge," but then went on to declare that it will take "a miracle" for the ADQ to regain the seats it held only two years ago.

Blogue post of the Week

Chantal Hébert offers an uncharacteristically cheeky rebuttalto John Ibbitson's suggestion that Quebec would " react with fury " to the Harper government's request that the Supreme Court rule on whether Ottawa can create a national securities regulator.

Ms. Hébert links to coverage of the issue from Le Devoir and La Presse which she argues offers an "altogether more serene" interpretation of events than Mr. Ibbitson predicted.

Ms. Hébert goes on to contend that, although the Harper government's desire to create a national securities regulator "irritates" Quebec, there is no reason for the province to oppose Mr. Harper's decision to involve the courts. "On the contrary," Ms. Hébert wrote, "the decision to send the issue to the Supreme Court is totally in line with the Quebecois approach. The Charest government has maintained since the beginning that there are solid constitutional arguments to be invoked against the project."

As for why Mr. Ibittson would have assumed Quebec would be against the idea of bringing the issue to the Supreme Courts, Ms. Hébert wryly suggests that "it is possible that the absence of my Globe colleague - who spent the first few years of this Conservative regime in Washington - from Ottawa partially explains the singularly alarmist tone of his analysis."

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