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Charest quitting after losing vote

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 09/6/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

A tearful Jean Charest announces Wednesday he is leaving as Quebec's Liberal party leader. (JACQUES BOISSINOT / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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MONTREAL -- It's a testament to Jean Charest's reputation as a political survivor that on the day he announced his plans to get out after three decades in public life, his peers were already abuzz about whether he might someday be pulled back in.

Standing in front of six Quebec flags in the foyer of the provincial legislature, a tearful Charest, 56, announced he would step down as party leader as soon the PQ officially formed its government.

His experiences as a Brian Mulroney cabinet minister, a referendum campaigner in 1995 and a provincial premier placed him at the forefront of many of the defining political events of a generation. In a form of poetic symmetry, his defeat on Tuesday was 28 years to the day after he first won office as a young lawyer in Sherbrooke, Que.

Charest was the youngest federal cabinet minister in Canadian history at age 28 and was federal Progressive Conservative leader by the time he turned 40. But he left federal politics in 1998 to take the helm of the Quebec Liberals, who were leaderless and fretful over the prospect of another referendum. He led the Liberal to victory in 2003 and served nine years as premier.

Within moments of Charest announcing his decision, some federal Liberals were already inviting him into their tent.

The interim federal Liberal leader, Bob Rae, said he hoped Charest would not lose his desire to be politically involved. "There's always a home for Mr. Charest in the federal Liberal party."

Charest's last months in office were dominated by the tuition dispute with students that triggered huge protests and made international news.

Premier-designate Pauline Marois promised Wednesday to cancel the tuition hikes that led to the dispute by cabinet decree, then ask the legislature to rescind the Charest Liberals' controversial anti-protest law Bill 78.

She said she will try to make progress on the more divisive parts of her platform -- those dealing with language, culture and federal-provincial relations -- but will need to seek consensus from the other parties.

Marois, whose Parti Québécois won 54 of the province's 125 ridings on Tuesday, conceded the difficulty of the task ahead given that the Liberals have 50 members and Francois Legault's Coalition party has 19.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 6, 2012 A9

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