Five missteps of Pauline Marois during the Quebec election campaign

One month ago, the polls indicated that the Parti Quebecois were poised to win a majority government.

On March 5th, buoyed by those numbers, Pauline Marois met with her province's Lieutenant-Governor to dissolve the National Assembly and to call a general election.

But on the eve of election day -- about 30 days later -- the polls tell a very different story.

It's now expected that Philippe Couillard's Liberals will form government. Some of are even predicting that Marois will be forced to resign, as PQ leader, as early as Monday evening.

So if we believe the polls, what went wrong?

1. PKP:

Most now agree that the turning point in this election campaign was the candidacy of media mogul Pierre Karl Peladeau.

His candidacy divided the PQ with some questioning how a left-leaning party could welcome PKP — historically, a union-bashing businessman. One pundit suggested it was akin to Conrad Black joining the federal NDP.

[ Related: Pauline Marois regrets talking sovereignty during campaign ]

Moreover, the billionaire candidate was supposed give credibility to the PQ's economic plan but instead propagated the party's sovereignty agenda. On day-one of his campaign he declared that he wanted an independent Quebec.

The common refrain coming from pundits on the ground is that Quebecers weren't interested in talking about issues regarding identity, sovereignty and constitution — that they want their politicians to discuss health care, jobs and the economy.

2. Musings about sovereignty:

The party didn't do a good job side-stepping the sovereignty issue when reporters brought it up.

In fact, Marois made several outlandish comments reminding people just how unprepared the province was for a referendum, let alone independence.

Over the course of two days, early in the campaign, Marois has said that she wanted her own country independent of Canada, wanted travellers in both 'nations' to be able to go back and forth without borders and passports, wanted to use the Canadian dollar, wanted to seek a seat at the Bank of Canada and will study the issue of offering dual citizenship to Quebecers.

Quebec Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard appropriately responded suggesting that the premier was living in some sort of fairy tale.

"The PQ always tries to take us to an imaginary world, Alice in Wonderland, where everything is going to be so great. No borders, no passport, it’s fantastic. Everybody’s going to be great friends," Couillard, said according to the Globe and Mail.

3. 'Discriminatory comments'

In the Alberta election, media were quick to point out the 'bozo eruptions' by Wildrose candidates that cost that party its credibility and ultimately the election.

There were several PQ candidates with their own bozo eruptions brought to light over the past month.

There was Jean Carriere, the former PQ candidate for Lafontaine who was forced to resign after a reporter found an old Facebook post of his which included an image of a half-naked woman with text that read "F#$% Islam."

There was also the Gouin candidate Louise Mailloux who — according to the Montreal Gazette — had once described baptism and circumcision as rape and claimed kosher and halal foods fund religious wars.

And then there was this story from CJAD Radio:

It should be noted that only one candidate — Jean Carriere — was forced to step down from the campaign.

4. Charter fizzle

The PQ's Values Charter — their controversial legislation that would essentially ban public employees from wearing religious symbols such as hijabs, kippas and turbans — was supposed to be the PQ's saving grace.

But according to Ekos Research pollster Frank Graves, it may have backfired on them.

"I like to believe that Quebecers look at some of the features of Bill 60 and say they’re not sure this is the way we want to go," Graves told the Montreal Gazette.

"Quebec has strong social justice values and this gambit was based on politics that would appeal to xenophobic tendencies. So I’m heartened by the fact they seemed to have not gone down that road."

5: Tax cuts:

Call me a cynic, but this reeks of political desperation.

During the final days of the campaigns — despite never mentioning it once before, despite it not being in the party's election platform and despite it not being mentioned in the PQ budget tabled in February — Marois said her government would Quebec businesses and Quebecers tax cuts.

“We want to reduce taxes paid by companies. We know that the biggest concern for businesses is the payroll tax because it serves as a disincentive to increasing the number of jobs," Marois said to a business group, according to the Globe and Mail.

"So yes we want to do this…after we reach a balanced budget…And I would say the same goes for income taxes. But we need to find new resources in order to do it."

When asked why she didn't mention the tax cuts before — the Globe claims she said: "No one asked me the question before."

Does that instill any confidence in anyone?

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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