Free Republic

He was just a third-place leader in the Quebec National Assembly. His party was tumbling into the teens in public approval, its independence raison d'etre more popular than the crumbling separatists leading the campaign. Given those grim circumstances, Andre Boisclair, leader of the Parti Quebecois, could have slipped from national politics with all the rippling impact of an ocean-plunked pebble. Yet it was the federal Conservatives whose faces were in full beam yesterday, viewing Mr. Boisclair's departure as a potential pick-me-up for their sagging poll fortunes and future election prospects. "It's an OK day," said a grinning senior government official,...

QUEBEC (CP) - Andre Boisclair is the new leader of the Parti Quebecois. Boisclair has become the head of the Quebec sovereignty movement with a first-ballot victory after a leadership vote by PQ members. Boisclair received 53.7 per cent of first-round choices, while Marois had 30.6 per cent and Richard Legendre 7.5 per cent. Boisclair will likely have to wait until 2007 before getting a crack at defeating the governing Liberals, although Premier Jean Charest can wait until the spring of 2008 before calling the election. The PQ leadership race was launched after Bernard Landry quit suddenly in June following...