On Sunday, the Coalition Avenir Québec will have a new leader — and Quebec a new premier.

It’s one of those peculiar features of our parliamentary system: When the governing party changes leaders, that person automatically becomes the province’s new captain.

Even though very few voters have had a direct say — apart from a few thousand CAQ members, which represent less than one per cent of Quebec’s population.

Quite a rare event in Quebec politics. The last time such a situation occurred was when Lucien Bouchard quit politics — a quarter-century ago.

He was replaced by Bernard Landry, whose government didn’t survive the following election, losing power to Jean Charest’s Liberals in 2003.

A similar outcome could await either Christine Fréchette or Bernard Drainville in the coming election. As they inherit a party in shambles, worn down after nearly eight years in power and trailing far behind their opponents in voting intentions, their tenure might be short-lived — unless some miracle happens for the........

© Montreal Gazette