Premier Jean Charest of Quebec has called for provincial elections March 26. While this may not seem like much, word is that Harper may move to call national elections if the sovereigntist PQ does badly.

'The Decima poll put Conservative support at 36 per cent nationally, back up to where the minority government was just over a year ago when it won power.

The Liberals polled 27 per cent, down from the 30 per cent they earned in the last election and even further from the mid-30s popularity they held shortly after Stephane Dion became leader in December.

The NDP and the Green party were in a dead heat at 13 per cent, while the Bloc Quebecois slipped to eight per cent nationally.' Tories widen lead on Liberals, Greens surge

An election wouldn't change much, on those figures. Maybe a green MP?

The key in all this is Ontario, where the Liberals are losing support and the Tories gaining. In a parliamentary system, it's the ridings that count, and I'm certain Harper is counting seats he can pick up in a province which has voted Liberal for decades. Quebec would just be icing on the cake.

Well, today's the day. I'll look forward to seeing how the PQ does.

So the Liberals maintained their hold in Quebec , albeit by a minority, and we can all sleep more soundly tonight in the rest of Canada.

I might sound cynical, but the thing is, while many Canadians would be able to name Jean Charest as the Premier of Quebec, most would be hard pressed to name the new leader of the opposition, or for that matter tell you his party is Action democratique du Quebec.

The only thing that might have got Canadians talking about these Quebec elections this morning, was if Andre Boisclair of the Parti Quebecois had won a landslide victory.

Canada is pretty complacent about Quebec politics these days.
Maybe talk of a sovereignty referendum could galvanise us into discussion, but that's about the least it would take.

The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star ran headlines on the elections today.
However, the CBC, in it's provincial radio news, covered two other topics , before talking about the election in Quebec.

This is just my opinion; but I think Quebec is Canada's enfant terrible, and we, in the rest of Canada are weary of her tantrums. I also think the Québécois realise this, and want stability as much as the rest of us.

It would be interesting to hear what the opinions of other answerpool members are.

The results seem to imply that the Quebecois were tired of both mainline parties; Charest himself just managed to hold his seat (earlier the CBC had even declared his opponent the winner). From what I hear, the ADQ leader is pretty conservative, with no desire to revisit the sovereignty issue. The enormous success he had appears to signify many there feel the same way. Quebec already has a plateful of problems, from health care to unemployment.