The liberal government of this province was counting on a fresh start at the opening of the spring sitting of the Quebec national assembly. And it was expected that Premier Jean Charest, in his inaugural address marking the opening of a new session of the legislature, would set out his government’s new vision.

But, when the reviews were in, the address was described as “pathetic,” “no vision” and “boring.” It began to look as though the days as premier of the man once touted as “Capitaine Canada” were numbered.

One of the priorities he named was to improve the quality of French in Quebec. But, ironically, his 36-page text was filled with grammatical errors. This is surprising because every major firm or institution in Quebec has a linguistic revision process to ensure the French is impeccable in all documents issued in the corporate name.

Charest has also not delivered on his 2003 commitment to cut income taxes by $1 billion a year. In what was seen as an attempt to put that promise to rest before the next election, he introduced the main feature of his speech, a commitment to reduce Quebec’s $117-billion debt without raising taxes.

He also reaffirmed his commitment to Canada, pegging his hopes of turning around his party’s fortunes on Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who says he will deal with the federal/provincial fiscal imbalance. Quebec argues that the tax structure favours Ottawa, which in recent years has been rolling up huge surpluses. The provinces are stuck with the big ticket expenses of health and education, without Ottawa’s ability to raise corresponding tax revenue.

Charest came to prominence as leader of the former Progressive Conservative party in Ottawa following the 1993 election, in which he was only one of two Tory MPs elected. In the 1995 Quebec referendum campaign, Charest took a starring role, playing the chords of national unity like a political Gordon Lightfoot.

In 1998, when the Quebec Liberals drafted him as their leader, Charest was seen not only as the federalist who could stop the charismatic Lucien Bouchard but also as the politician who could win the hearts and minds of Quebecers to the Canadian cause.

Charest’s Liberals won slightly more votes than Bouchard’s Parti Québécois in the 1998 election. But while Charest’s Liberals scored massive victories in Montreal among English and non-francophone voters, Bouchard took more seats in Quebec’s francophone heartland.

In the 2003 provincial election, this time with Bernard Landry leading the PQ, Charest managed to extend his grasp throughout the province to win power. But a Léger Marketing poll published the day after this year’s address to the Quebec national assembly shows how far he has fallen. The poll indicated the PQ would now win handily, taking almost twice as many francophone votes as Charest’s Liberals.

In his address, Charest noted that the PQ, under André Boisclair, is committed to a third referendum on Quebec sovereignty. “We do not need another referendum,” Charest said.

On this, he is on solid ground. Quebecers are not clamouring for a new referendum, and he is hoping this will persuade voters to stick with the Liberals in the coming election.

But the election will be about choosing a new government. By giving Boisclair less than 50% of the vote, Quebecers could send him the signal that they want to get rid of Charest, but don’t want a referendum. IE