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Reporter's Notebook: Steve RukavinaParti Québécois BusCBC Online News | Updated March 20, 2007
March 20, 2007 I'm tired. It has been a long campaign, and it's getting more intense as we get into the home stretch. That means instead of hearing the same speech, say, twice a day, we're hearing it four times a day. There's more travel, longer hours. I'm fighting a cold. To be honest with you, some days I feel like I'm sleepwalking through this thing. But then I remember that there is an end to this, and at the end we will have a result, and right now I have NO IDEA what that result might be. That is kind of thrilling. I don't remember another election like this one, where really any of the three guys pushing for this job has a viable shot at it. It's fun to be at the heart of that, the be witness to a little story of history where the end is not yet written, and by no means certain. I talked to some veterans of campaign coverage before heading out on the
road and they told me that you can just feel the life sucking out of a
campaign bus when things start to go wrong. André Boisclair has had
some rough patches on this campaign, but his campaign has never gone off
the rails. Boisclair gave one of his best speeches of the campaign last
night in Gatineau, filled with breezy rhetorical flourish that has so
far eluded him in this campaign (he referred to Mario Dumont as "Peter
Pan", and the federal government as "Captain Crunch"). There's
no
question he's not giving up, and I don't think the other two guys are That means that we have three immovable objects pushing up against each other and sometime over the next five days something's gotta give. I'm going to try to stay awake for it. March 15, 2007 The CBC campaign team has played musical chairs with the election buses, to
see how the other half lives. I am now on the Liberal bus for a few days. Things
are different here. The seats are more plush, the workspaces are larger, the
snack selection is better, the bathroom is cleaner. Boisclair is not a great speaker, but he is essentially pleading with people
to help him form a new country, and that's kind of an interesting appeal to
peoples’ hearts. Charest is defending a dodgy record, and appealing to
peoples’ heads, so his tone is calming and reasuring almost to the point
of being soporific. Charest, on the other hand, has the appearance and disposition of a hobbit: short, hunched over, with a mop of curly hair, bright eyes, and an easy smile. He seems happy to meet people. He looks them in the eye, listens, and jokes, even with people who clearly don't seem to like him very much. He plunges into crowds where Boisclair skirts their edge. He's clearly the more natural politician. Mario Dumont is no slouch in that department either. It will be interesting to see if that's enough to make the difference. Thursday, March 8 Thursday March 8th was by far the most dramatic day in the PQ campaign. The morning headline in La Presse: "PQ candidate denies Rwandan Genocide". That headline set off a chain of events where strong emotions clashed with cold hard politics. The campaign began the day in Quebec city. Boisclair had a breakfast scheduled at 8:00 a.m. ET with his local women candidates to mark International Women's Day. Press aides quickly told reporters that Boisclair would hold a quick scrum to comment on the La Presse article about candidate Robin Philpot and some of his controversial writing about Rwanda and the genocide. Boisclair said he was stunned by the article in La Presse. He talked about how he had met with victims of the Rwandan genocide when he visited neighbouring Burundi in the early 1990's. He said what happened in Rwanda was definitely a genocide and that people should not play with the word. He also said he was trying to reach Philpot to get his side of the story. Philpot's future as a candidate looked shaky. Boisclair then got on the bus and headed to Montreal. It was during that bus trip that the party's spin machine went to work. Somewhere around Drummondville reporters received a communiqué from the party. Philpot was acknowledging the genocide and called it the worst tragedy of the 20th century. The party seemed to be supporting him. Press aides on the bus distributed copies of articles where Philpot had used the word "genocide". At a press conference later in Montreal, it was a completely different Boisclair at work. He was now defending Philpot and attacking La Presse for torquing the story. The truth here is very fuzzy. Philpot clearly acknoweldges that hundreds of thousands of people were killed in Rwanda, and he's content to describe that as a genocide. But what he continues to question is whether or not the killing was organized
along ethnic divisions. He does not acknowledge that there was a systematic
Hutu campaign to kill Tutsis. It's true that people on both sides died, but
most journalists and observers acknoweldge that there was a systematic campaign
to incite Hutus to kill their Tutsi neighbours, and that the overwhelming majority
of people who died were Tutsis. But whether you believe Philpot is right or not, it's telling how Boisclair's position changed during the day. In the morning Boisclair was emotional, direct and solemn. This was the spontaneous reaction. The afternoon Boisclair, where he'd had time to strategize and calculate the political costs of the situation, was smug, defiant and sarcastic. This was the planned reaction. That tells us something about how campaigns work. March 3, 2007 I feel the campaign has entered its "dog days". It's March break and I think voters are taking a break from it all, even as politcians continue to plug away. But all eyes now are on the debate and it will be interesting to see if anything big happens between now and then. Yesterday was the first day that Boisclair was actually able to stay on message. He wanted to talk about forestry and for the most part that's all that reporters asked him about. Whether this is rhetorical skill on Boisclair's part or a product of the lack of imagination of the dull minds of reporters following the campaign is up for debate. The fact is that Charest and Dumont seem to be ignoring Boisclair. On the one hand this makes him look like the odd man out. On the other hand, maybe he'll be able to quietly sneak his way back into this thing before the debate, where he'll need to really put on a show to get back in serious contention. Boisclair is right about one thing: it's still early, and it's still close. Yesterday we were in Malartic near Val D'or, and we got a cruel reminder that this is a winter campaign. Boisclair met with forestry workers outside in a cold that at least two reporters described in their stories as "Siberian". The workers were sensibly dressed in skidoo jackets and toques while reporters shivered. I've packed my longjohns and special socks for the days ahead as it looks like the cold is here to stay for a bit. Boisclair himself never wears a toque or any kind of ear or head protection. I suppose it is telling of our superficial political age that it may be considered a liability for a candidate to be seen with headgear that might leave the door open for mockery by editorial cartoonists and satirists. Maybe one of them should try it. Maybe I'd even vote for the first candidate who has the good sense to wear a toque when it's cold outside. March 1, 2007 André Boisclair's homosexuality has finally come up in the campaign, and it provided some interesting insight into the man. Boisclair appeared on CHOI-FM radio in Quebec city this morning, and the host asked him about the high suicide rate in Quebec. Boisclair said he was concerned about it, especially the rate among young gay men which was twice the rate of the rest of the population. One of the reporters on the bus figured this was a good opening to ask Boisclair about homophobia in the campaign. It seemed especially apt in light of comments made by a popular radio host in the Saguenay, who said on the air that he thought people in the region would never vote for a "tapette", a slur for homosexuals that translates to "fag" in English. The question was asked at a press conference later that morning. Boisclair stared straight into the reporter's eyes for a good five seconds without saying anything. He looked furious. I didn't know what was going to happen...I thought Boisclair might leap out from behind the podium and strangle this reporter, so intense and piercing was his gaze. He then seemed to collect himself, and launched into one of his most eloquent and impassioned monologues of the campaign, all about Quebecers and tolerance and shared values, defusing the issue without exploiting it. It was a bravura performance on a day where Boisclair needed it. Feb. 28, 2007 André Boisclair is a talented speaker, keenly intelligent, articulate and well-informed. In his stump speech he methodically outlines the flaws and broken promises of the Liberals, and how the path to sovereignty might correct these flaws. It's a good enough speech, but something is missing, and I've been trying to figure out what it is. One PQ supporter I met in a Jonquière aluminum plant said he would vote for the party in spite of, and not because of Boisclair. He said he thought Boisclair was too young and too inexperienced, and that he didn't know very much about him. This may be the root of the problem. Boisclair is definitely not a populist orator in the mold of Bill Clinton, or René Lévesque, or Jean Chrétien. He's more of an intellectual analyst, in the vein of Claude Ryan or Bernard Landry or Stephen Harper. His arguments are lucid, but they lack fire, the magic that puts stars in voters’ eyes. I realized last night that there are almost no personal references in Boisclair's speeches. He does not talk about his childhood, or his family, or events or anecdotes that shaped his character as a sovereigntist. He has mentioned his father and brother, but only in passing, in reference to the fact that they ran small businesses. He speaks eloquently about generations and nations and common values, but not very much about himself. I think people might have a different view of him if he put more of himself into his speeches. I was struck yesterday at a daycare visit how natural and at ease he seemed with the children, and they with him. He was patient and gentle, not in the least condescending. As he helped young Elisabeth and Charlotte print their names in crayon, he seemed genuinely comfortable and relaxed (perhaps it was only because it was delaying his appearance before a grumpy horde of reporters). There is a personality and a history in there somewhere, but Boisclair seems reluctant to share it. I suppose it's up to voters to decided whether or not that matters. Feb. 27, 2007 The campaign travel has begun in earnest. Yesterday we took a plane from Montreal to Baie-Comeau, for a five-minute stop at the Manic-2 hydroelectric dam. Impressive. Great backdrop for a photo op. We then flew on to Sept-les for a couple of events, before flying to Jonquière last night. Boisclair seems to be loosening up a bit. On the plane he chatted with reporters and munched on some chips. He seems less guarded, and he's answering questions more directly and more forcefully. Today was spent in the Saguenay, which is supposed to be a PQ stronghold. But even in a factory handpicked for a tour, we found workers who weren't so keen on Boisclair as a leader. One told me he thinks Boisclair is too young, and that he should have waited before seeking the party’s leadership. The man said he would vote for the PQ anyways, but only "by default". For those who are following, there have been six uses of pompier pyromane now, and counting, although it was absent in a speech today to the local chamber of commerce. Feb. 26, 2007 At Le Boucanier restaurant in Baie Comeau, on Quebec’s north shore, André Boisclair tried his first real gladhanding of the campaign and stopped for a five-minute chat with local resident Michel Tanguay and his son Yoan. Michel Tanguay says when he first applied for a job at the aluminum factory 32 years ago, the foreman was a unilingual anglophone. He says since then, not much has improved. He's worried that young people are leaving the region to find jobs elsewhere. His son Yoan has worked as a welder, and he wants to stay in Baie Comeau, but he's worried about his own children’s future. Both men say they think Boisclair is honest and is the best man to help their region. I also have an update on Boisclair’s use of his pet phrase pompier pyromane: Six times and counting for this campaign. Feb. 22, 2007 As a two-day veteran now of election campaign coverage, I've learned a thing or two. One is that politicians attach themselves fervently to expressions or lines that might get a laugh in a stump speech. It's funny the first time (which is all that matters), it's kind of cute the second time (only reporters usually hear it twice), and it's annoying the third time (only reporters who are still lucid hear it three times). For André Boisclair, his "killer" line this time around comes when he gets to ironically mock Jean Charest's campaign slogan, which refers to unity. Boisclair suggests Charest is the last person who should be talking about unity. He then pauses dramatically and refers to Jean Charest as a "pompier pyromane", or a pyromaniac fireman (it certainly sounds better in French with the alliteration). The partisan crowds like it. For the journalists on the bus, it's a bit of fun to wait for the line, and to smile knowingly when it's delivered. I'm keeping count. There have been three "pompier pyromanes" so far this campaign, one for every speech André Boisclair has made. I will keep you posted. Feb. 21, 2007 This is a campaign of many firsts for me. I've never been on a campaign bus before. Up until yesterday I'd never set foot in Quebec's national assembly. I used one of those little Blackberry machines for the first time, and by the end of the day it was buzzing off the hook. Unfortunately I forgot the charger in Quebec City when I boarded the bus. My life is governed by wires. I have so many USB cables and chargers and AC adaptors floating around me I was bound to lose track of one of them sooner or later. The good news is all that technology allows me to file stories quickly and cleanly from almost anywhere in Quebec. I got my first taste yesterday of writing and recording and putting together radio stories, not from my desk in Montreal, but from a seat in a bus tooling past Trois-Rivières. It's all quite amazing when you think of it. I may seem like a campaign ingénue, but I like to think that what I
lack in experience I will make up for in freshness, hard work and a willingness
to maintain an open mind. At least for now. Talk to me in thirty days and I
may be a jaded hack, but for now I'm just drinking it all in.
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About The Author »
Steve
Rukavina is a CBC radio reporter based in Montreal. He has been with
CBC for 8 years, beginning his career in Saskatchewan before moving to Montreal
in 2002. He has covered, among other things: elections, strikes, riots, royal visits, murder trials, floods, fires, lawnmower races, and plagues of grasshoppers.
Throughout Quebec Votes 2007 Steve will be covering the election from the Parti Québécois bus.
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