This week, guest-host Tim Duboyce takes you on a tour of the unpredictable and always fascinating world of Quebec politics. Three well-known political insiders (Benoit Pelletier, Josee Legault and Christian Bourque) share their thoughts about the province's current political scene. Quebec Premier Jean Charest agreed to sit down for a rare one-on-one interview with Tim. He talks about Alberta, Pauline Marois and his political future. And finally The House explores the future of the sovereignty movement with a member of the Parti Quebecois' youth wing.

Back when I was working in Quebec City, one of my favourite political analysts was Gilbert Lavoie. He's a political columnist for Le Soleil newspaper. He spent time in Ottawa, he knows people in various political circles, and has this capacity to make sense of all things political.
So when we got to Quebec City, I convinced him to sit down with me and share his analysis of the current political scene in the province.

Here's that conversation.

It wasn't that long ago, in 2007, that the Action Democratique du Quebec looked like an unstoppable force. Mario Dumont's party was the official opposition with a minority Liberal government in front of them. There was an appetite for change in the province, and for a while, it looked like the ADQ was taking advantage of that.
 
Then, things collapsed. Mario Dumont left the party after the 2008 election. The leadership race that followed divided the party. And there are only 4 ADQ MNAS left.
 
The House paid a visit to the party's new leader at his office. Gerard Deltell is a former television reporter. Here he in conversation with guest host Tim Duboyce.

It was oppressively hot in Quebec City on Wednesday. Yet there I was wearing a suit... Why? The House crew was on its way to Jean Charest's office at the National Assembly.
Quebec's Premier rarely does one-on-one interviews and we wanted to make the most of it.
 
 It's funny the things you notice when you walk into a room. Right away I noticed the inflatable Superman behind Mr. Charest's desk. There was a biography of Harry Truman on his desk, pictures of his family by his computer... and a cellphone on a pile of paper in front of him. That's one number I'd like to have in my Blackberry!
 
Our host this week, Tim Duboyce, asked about Charest's take on Quebec's relationship with Ottawa and with other provinces, mainly Alberta. They also spoke about the corruption allegations that have been hurting the Quebec Liberals for months now. Finally the part of the discussion concerning Mr. Charest's political future turned into - if you ask me - one of the highlights of the interview.
 
Even though we had exceed the amount of time we'd been given to talk to him, Mr. Charest still kept us around for several minutes for an off the record chat.
 
You can hear our exclusive interview with Jean Charest on Saturday morning, right after the 9 o'clock news.

First stop of the week: Cafe Cherrier in Montreal. We asked three political observers to sit down with us to explore Quebec's current political scene. Benoit Pelletier was a Liberal cabinet minister up until not too long ago, Josee Legault is a newspaper columnist in Montreal and Christian Bourque is a well-respected pollster in Quebec. It was boiling hot when we recorded this, but that didn't stop the discussion from getting heated as well. Here's a little sample... And notice the two men on the picture on the wall. Jacques Parizeau and Robert Bourassa laughing together back in 1987. I didn't even pick that table! Nice coincidence, no?

The House is going to Quebec... I've been thinking about doing a show about my home province for a while now, ever since we did a special show about Alberta politics earlier this year, actually. It was 2 a.m., we'd just finished working on that show, and I started thinking about how fascinating it would be to explore the politics of La Belle Province.
 
Part of the premise of our Alberta show was that the province's political scene is unique. The same can certainly be said about Quebec. I remember getting on a yellow school bus on my way to high school in 1995. A few of my classmates had OUI stickers on their backpacks. There were a few heated arguments between those who wanted the province to separate and those who didn't. Hard to imagine those conversations were particularly informed or made much sense, but I still remember their intensity. I mostly remember the uncertainty that was in the air at the time. I asked myself more than once, and those around me, what was going to happen following the 30th of October. People were trying to answer as best as they could, but to the teenager me, it always came back to the same thing: nobody knew!
 
I've been paying attention to politics ever since. The first election I covered was the one in 2003 when Jean Charest came to power (on my first day he made a joke that somehow involved Colonel Sanders - always thought that was weird). I also covered a Parti Quebecois leadership race that ended up with Andre Boisclair in the big chair. So I feel in my element when I try to navigate the maze that's the world of Quebec politics. Now I'm excited to spend a week there. I'm also particularly happy to be working with our reporter at the National Assembly, Tim Duboyce. He's hosting this week, and he's the perfect guide to help you navigate this strange and never boring world.
 
Hope you enjoy the show!
 
Nick