For Mario Dumont, it's a case of the missing Adéquistes
Last Updated: Thursday, November 27, 2008 | 10:51 AM ET
The Canadian Press
Action Démocratique du Québec Leader Mario Dumont will obviously take any votes he can get on Dec. 8, but first he'd like to track down the massive number of people who appear to have abandoned his party in just 20 months.
The ADQ became the official Opposition in March 2007 when 31 per cent of Quebecers voted for the right-leaning, back-to-basics party, which ended up with 41 of the national assembly's 125 seats.
Such halcyon days seem a lifetime away, however, with two opinion polls this week suggesting the party was mired at 12 per cent support and buried in third place behind the Parti Québécois and the front-running Liberals.
On Wednesday, Dumont went hunting for ADQ supporters, known in Quebec as Adéquistes.
"The priority from now on is to bank on the 31 per cent of people who voted for us the last time," Dumont said as he campaigned in Quebec City.
"That doesn't mean we can't convince other voters, but it does mean that if they did it 18 months ago, these are the first voters to convince of the importance of doing it again.
"We're giving everything we can. There are days we start early in the morning and finish late in the evening. We're going to keep going because we want to get out there and speak to Quebecers. We're proud to have different things, ambitious things, to propose to them."
Ever the optimist, Dumont said he believes he will be able to persuade other voters to jump aboard the ADQ bandwagon when they take stock of the Liberal and PQ programs.
"They've got to see the impasse. They've got to see that the PQ and the Liberals no longer have any solutions."
Marois doesn't have much hope for ADQ
Also back on the campaign trail after a televised debate that earned her widespread kudos for her debut performance, PQ Leader Pauline Marois admitted she and Dumont saw eye-to-eye on a few issues during the debate, particularly when it came to defending the interests of Quebecers.
She also played the good sport when asked whether the flailing ADQ is dead and whether it ought to disappear.
"It's never a good thing for democracy when there are fewer ideas circulating," she said during a stop at a Montreal community centre on Wednesday.
"I'm not going to say I want them to disappear ... They are there. It's part of democracy and if they're able to convince people that their ideas have merit and they're able to put them into action, that is democracy."
That said, she didn't express much confidence in the ADQ's chances.
"I think what's happened in the last year-and-a-half is there's been a real break in confidence vis-a-vis the ADQ, which had the wind in its sails but was not able to maintain the credibility needed to assume the role of the Opposition."
Charest looks for majority
Premier Jean Charest returned to the campaign trail painting himself as the only leader able to represent all Quebecers.
"I am the only one of the three leaders who can talk on behalf of all Quebecers on every issue," Charest said in Shawinigan after visiting a company that makes helicopter parts.
"Madame Marois has confirmed [in the debate] that her hands are tied by the sovereignty movement, therefore by the Bloc, while Mr. Dumont has decided to tag along with the Conservative party."
Speaking before a his largest crowd of supporters, about 1,500, in Laval, Charest called on voters to "free his hands" and grant him a majority so he can properly address the growing economic crisis.
Drawing on the tied-hands metaphor Charest used throughout the day, Marois later addressed a crowd of some 750 supporters in Montreal where she slammed the premier, suggesting it's his hands that are tied when it comes to running the province.
"I'm not at all certain he has his hands free but I am, unfortunately, certain he has his knees on the ground before Ottawa," she said.
