i would be curious to see where jean charest comes down on certain national issues.

he might actually end up running to the left of trudeau on a number of substantive issues. would he support these pipelines, for example? that's not clear.

we haven't, to this point, seen the kind of realignment in canada that's been happening in the united states, where the upper class is swinging towards the democrats and workers are swinging towards republicans. we have seen the liberals kind of follow the democrats' lead in swinging to these ultra bourgeois positions, which, in our own historical context, places them in the place that the progressive conservatives used to be in. trudeau seems more like a joe clark or a brian mulroney than he does like a pearson or a laurier, or his own father, for that matter. so, the liberals are kind of following the democrats in their swinging towards a more conservative centre of gravity, but the conservatives aren't trying to walk into the open space, they're kind of hanging out on the margins, afraid to really react. one gets the idea that they think this is temporary.

a charest could lead the conservative party to the kind of realignment that is happening in the united states, but he would have to do it in very different ways - he would have to embrace environmentalism, embrace gender and sexual equality and stand up for the enlightenment values that the west was founded on, and the liberals and democrats don't seem to care about any more. and, charest could do that. convincingly.

as a very hard leftist, i would be exceedingly skeptical about even thinking about supporting the conservatives.

but, i really don't like trudeau.

and, charest looks like the closest thing to a way out.

none of the other candidates i've seen are remotely electable.

i would encourage him to run.