Gilles Duceppe may be an early favourite to lead the Parti Québécois now that Bernard Landry has quit, but the federal politician had better not wait for the traditional PQ leadership coronation if he wants the job.
Within a few hours of the break of dawn on the post-Landry era, Pauline Marois announced she will run for the PQ leadership, ruffling feathers among colleagues who found her haste unseemly.
Ms. Marois, who has spent years as an also-ran to preordained party leaders, was making sure she could not be sidelined this time.
The PQ has a tradition of handing the leadership to popular choices. Jacques Parizeau, Lucien Bouchard and Mr. Landry were each handed the title uncontested.
“Impossible. This time it's impossible,” Louise Beaudoin, a respected former PQ cabinet minister who is retired from politics, said of a coronation.
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