Behind its Internet firewall, Le Devoir reports that, on his seventh anniversary in power, Jean Charest is considered by Quebeckers to have been their worst premier in the past quarter century. Behind Robert Bourassa, Lucien Bouchard, Jacques Parizeau and Bernard Landry in that order. Only 7 per cent of Quebeckers think he's been their best premier.
Asked by Leger in which area Mr. Charest has done the worst job, 38 per cent cited health care, 26 per cent said public finances and 8 per cent education. On the other hand, fully 42 per cent could not or refused to answer when asked in which area he had done the best job, with 14 per cent answering international relations, 10 per cent the environment and federal-provincial relations and 9 per cent the economy.
Interestingly, on the environment, Le Devoir also reports that Quebec missed its Kyoto target in 2008, though that target was agreed to unanimously by the National Assembly. While carbon emissions were supposed to have been reduced by 6 per cent below 1990 levels, they in fact fell by only one tenth of one per cent.