Globe public editor: Not a day for a bland headline

By Sylvia Stead, public editor of The Globe and Mail

There was a letter to the editor in The Globe and Mail recently from a reader who felt the “PQ crushed” main headline from the front page “smacked of a tabloid.” The reader called it un-Canadian, scornful and narrow-minded.

By Sylvia Stead, public editor of The Globe and Mail

There was a letter to the editor in The Globe and Mail recently from a reader who felt the “PQ crushed” main headline from the front page “smacked of a tabloid.” The reader called it un-Canadian, scornful and narrow-minded.

In my view, it was none of those things. As the smaller headline said, it was a “historic defeat.”

The main article by Montreal bureau chief Les Perreaux noted that the Liberal victory was a “stunning rebuke” to the Parti Québécois and incumbent Premier Pauline Marois, who called the election to try to win a majority. Instead, she lost her own seat and the party’s vote percentage was lower than it had been since 1970.

That’s 44 years since the party has done so poorly.

That is truly a crushing defeat, as chief correspondent Sophie Cousineau noted. “Sovereignty is not dead. … But for now it’s not going anywhere,” she wrote.

This was not a day for a bland headline such as “PQ loses election” or “Surprise Liberal win in Quebec.” In the Canadian context, this election was closely watched by many who were concerned about a rise in the sovereignty movement, so Quebec provincial elections have an added importance in the federal context. It was historic.

To continue reading this column, please go theglobendmail.com where it was originally published. 

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