You can almost hear the huffing and puffing of the unsigned Canadian Press reporter who wrote about the “forced march” engineered by Pauline Marois.

“Bleary-eyed and freezing, a group of journalists was forced to follow Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois for her regular morning walk under a dark pre-dawn sky,” reported CP plaintively.

Marois had challenged journalists to join her after election-campaign stories alleged she is fatigued.

“The 59-year-old politician was followed by a group of reporters and photographers as she began her march up Montreal’s Mount Royal at 5:45 a.m., with only the moon piercing the near-total darkness…”