Mama Marois knows best -call it 'le systeme Poutine'By DON MACPHERSON, The Gazette December 16, 2010 4:44 AM
Pauline Marois gets a bad rap. The Parti Quebecois leader is not a snob.
If she were, she wouldn't associate with the likes of Patrick Bourgeois of the Reseau de Resistance du Quebecois, the sovereignist goon who is currently trying to intimidate Marois's adversaries.
No, Marois, as do all Pequistes, loves le peuple quebecois (well, at least the part that speaks French and doesn't wear religious headgear), even if it is not requited.
In fact, she loves the people as a mother loves her children: She wants to protect them from themselves, and she doesn't trust their judgment to make decisions.
These include some of the fundamental decisions in a democracy.
This week, as part of a 16-point "clean-government" plan, Marois proposed to restrict their freedom to choose the premier or the mayors of municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants by imposing term limits.
The premier would have to leave office after two terms or 10 years, whichever is longer, and not seek it again, even if the voters wanted him -or her -to stay on.
And the mayors would be limited to three terms or 12 years. We could call this the "Gilles Vaillancourt rule," in honour of the mayor of Laval since 1989.
(We could also call it the "PQ plan to take over Montreal behind former PQ minister Louise Harel," but few people expect 68-year-old Mayor Gerald Tremblay to seek a fourth term anyway.)
That is, we could call it the "Vaillancourt rule," except that Marois told a media conference the term limits would only apply to future officeholders. So Vaillancourt is free to remain mayor for life.
Marois says term limits are necessary to renew political leadership.
But for the office of premier, the need for them is not apparent.
No Quebec premier elected in the last half-century has served 10 consecutive years anyway, though incumbent Jean Charest theoretically has a chance.
Only Jean Lesage and Robert Bourassa even completed two consecutive terms as premier. And when they sought a third, their governments were defeated.
So the voters appear capable of imposing their own term limits whenever they deem it necessary.
What's more, Marois's proposal wouldn't even ensure a changing of the guard in anything but title.
She said the term limit for the premier "would not prevent him from continuing to be a member of the National Assembly or even be in the government."
So the former premier could remain the real power in the government behind a figurehead replacement.
Out of respect for PQ language policies, let's call this "le systeme Poutine," using the French spelling of the name of the current Russian "prime minister."
A term limit similar to the one Marois is proposing prevented Vladimir Putin from seeking a third consecutive term as Russian president. But everybody knows who the real boss still is.
And this is supposed to make people less cynical about politics?
Not a lot of thought appears to have gone into Marois's term-limits proposal, which looks like nothing more than attention-getting Christmas wrapping for the same old call for a public inquiry into whatever's on the morning's front pages.
But it's not the first time that Marois has proposed to restrict voters' choice of candidates.
Three years ago, she proposed a bill on identity requiring newcomers to Quebec to pass French and citizenship tests before running for provincial, municipal or school-board office.
Apparently, the people couldn't be trusted, either, not to elect representatives who can't speak French.
dmacpherson@montrealgazette.com© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
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