There was certainly some bad news associated with Quebec's election today: as noted by Erin, the choice of parties almost seemed designed to present the least appealing possible set of choices for a progressive federalist voter. But there may be more important good news if the break in Quebec's longstanding two-party system makes a similar change seem a more desirable possibility federally.
After all, leaving aside each party's position on the traditional political spectrum, the rise of the ADQ can only be seen as a rebuke to Quebec's default dichotomy between federalism and separatism. And while the ideological lines might seem more neatly drawn at the federal level, there's not much reason to think there's any lack of room to question the mutual attempts of the Cons and the Libs to run against each other rather than for anything in particular.
What's more, the rise of a third party didn't take place at the expense of smaller parties either. Both Quebec Solidaire and the Greens managed to boost their proportion of the popular vote, and Quebec Solidaire in particular was within striking distance of winning a couple of seats. Which suggests that the turn away from politics as usual and toward a search for better choices runs deeper than Mario Dumont's personal appeal alone.
Incidentally, in case anyone was wondering, the ADQ won 18% of the popular vote and just over 3% of the available seats in the previous Quebec election. Which should offer a strong hint that a federal party which won just a slightly lower percentage of the vote and a substantially higher percentage of seats than that in its most recent election can be well within striking distance of the supposed frontrunners...as long as voters nationally join their Quebec counterparts in recognizing the value of an alternative to the usual horse race.
Update: Saskboy has similar suspicions.
(Edit: fixed label.)
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