OTTAWA (Reuters) - A month ago, Monday's election in Quebec seemed like such a good idea to the ruling Parti Quebecois, the largest separatist party in the mostly French-speaking Canadian province.
Premier Pauline Marois and her minority government hoped to take advantage of a comfortable lead in the polls to capture a majority of seats in the provincial legislature. That would enable them to push through a provincial charter on secularism and possibly set the stage for a new referendum on whether the province should leave Canada.