MONTREAL - For most of his political life, Jean Charest has been a survivor. Now he's putting that reputation to the test again. After eking out a minority government in the 2007 election, Charest is seeking to get back into the majority territory he enjoyed between 2003 and last year.
Charest, who is entering his fourth election since becoming Liberal leader in 1998, had a lacklustre campaign in 2007 and was on the defensive over a crumbling health-care system and decisions to boost daycare and tuition fees.
Now he's energized and insists he's the best guy to have at the helm in stormy economic seas.
"There's an issue that the world cannot escape," Charest said Wednesday as he kicked off the election campaign, which will culminate with Quebecers voting on Dec. 8.
"It's not just about Quebec. The whole world right now is facing this economic situation and it includes us. And so we have to ask ourselves who will be at that helm when we face this storm."
After the 2007 performance, when the Liberals won 48 out of 125 seats, Charest became more focused and his charisma and easy humour resurfaced. He managed, in the words of one political analyst, to "de-federalist" himself to become a believable champion of Quebec interests. He made the economy his priority.
All that, plus the fact he's a dogged, effective campaigner when he's on his game, should serve him well as he goes up against a seemingly imploding Action democratique du Quebec and a Parti Quebecois in which Leader Pauline Marois is still coming to grips with the ever-tricky sovereignty issue.
Charest, 50, is used to the political roller-coaster.
The native of Sherbrooke, Que., was the youngest federal cabinet minister ever when he was named minister of state for youth in 1986 at the age of 28. Charest then got another cabinet job but had to quit in 1990 after he called a judge about a case. He returned in 1991 as environment minister.
A lawyer before he won Sherbrooke for the Tories in 1984, Charest lost the Conservative leadership to Kim Campbell in 1993 but became leader later that year after Campbell's government was annihilated by Jean Chretien's Liberals.
In 1995, Charest became a federalist star in the Quebec sovereignty referendum campaign, waving his Canadian passport at rallies and trumpeting the country's virtues. He also took the Conservatives from two seats to 20 in the 1997 federal election.
Charest's charisma was so strong that intense public and political pressure was put on him to become Quebec Liberal leader, which he did in 1998.
But it was not easy for the father of three grown children.
A provincial politics greenhorn in the 1998 election, Charest looked ill at ease and lacked a grasp of key issues in comparison to then-PQ premier Lucien Bouchard.
Charest, who lost the election even though his Liberals topped the standings in the popular vote, dug in his heels and rebuilt. When the 2003 campaign rolled around, he was ready, running a commanding and virtually error-free campaign.
But once he was in power, Quebecers fell out of love with Charest and his support tanked. There was confusion over his plans to re-engineer the Quebec state by cutting taxes and shrinking the government.
Quebecers grumbled as the government sought new revenues through such unpopular measures as increased electricity rates and user fees. There were loud protests by the province's unions.
Promised tax cuts appeared only in the final week of the 2007 election campaign, thanks to federal transfer payments. Charest blamed the delay on the previous PQ government.
In 2007, the pummelling taken by the PQ and its then-leader, Andre Boisclair, kept Charest in power with a minority government. Nipping at the Liberals' heels instead was the populist ADQ, which was embraced by voters to the point that it became the Opposition.
"Quebecers rendered their judgment," Charest said as he addressed his troops on the night of the 2007 election. "It must be recognized that they rendered a severe judgment."
Charest became re-engaged after the election and has seen his support climb steadily while the ADQ's has collapsed. He retooled his government to get its message out better and make it appear more active in Quebecers' lives.
He even managed to skate around the contentious issue of Quebec's reasonable accommodation of immigrants by calling a commission of inquiry, although its report vanished quickly from the public eye.
While some say Charest has rejuvenated himself, critics sniff that he has merely been governing in the least offensive way possible.
