Meet Mr. Unpopular

Jean Charest is now the country's least liked premier after B.C.'s Gordon Campbell stepped down last week, but he might still win the next election.

Ever since B.C.’s dismally unpopular premier Gordon Campbell announced his resignation last week, Jean Charest’s ears have been burning. That’s because Campbell bequeathed him the title of Canada’s most unpopular premier, increasing speculation that the Québec leader will follow his B.C. counterpart out the door.

There are many similarities between Charest and Campbell, writes the Montreal Gazette’s Don MacPherson, including the fact that they’re both in their third terms as premier, and they both preside over a province that hasn’t given a premier a fourth term in over 40 years. The policies of both men have been unpopular, with Campbell providing the nail to his own coffin by deciding to implement the HST. In Charest’s case, his government suffers from what MacPherson calls “ethical laxity,” which is a fancy way to say he’s crooked. Despite all this, MacPherson says you shouldn’t expect Charest to step down, because unlike Campbell he’s not facing an imminent leadership review, and unlike Campbell, his caucus members aren’t threatening to kick him out.

There's a few reasons they're staying quiet, says the Ottawa Sun editorial board. One of those reasons is, “What would be considered ugly in Alberta and Ontario is not necessarily considered ugly in Quebec.” Good news for unattractive Quebeckers! And just as a less than impressive Stephen Harper won election thanks to the even less impressive Stephane Dion, “Charest has the bumbling Parti Quebecois, and its internally challenged leader Pauline Marois” to lend him a hand. The PQ boat has been rocking lately, thanks to a hardcore separatist faction of the party advocating Marois be removed and replaced by Bloc Québecois leader Gilles Duceppe, who is perceived as being more dedicated to pursuing sovereignty, which is odd, because he’s barely done more than pay lip service to it in Parliament for the past fifteen years. So while many are already proclaiming Charest’s career is dead and buried, the Sun advises “smart money has not abandoned Charest from squeaking out a minority victory” in the next election.