Christine Frechette has resigned as leader of the Coalition Avenir Quebec, taking responsibility for one of the most stunning collapses in Canadian political history. The CAQ entered Monday's Quebec election holding 79 seats in the National Assembly and won none of them - a total wipeout that ended eight years in government.
Frechette lost her own seat in Trois-Rivieres, making her position untenable. Announcing her decision in Quebec City on Tuesday, she said she took full responsibility for what she called a difficult result, triggering a leadership contest for a party now reduced to rebuilding from zero.
The CAQ's destruction cleared the way for the Parti Quebecois and premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, whose minority government now inherits a province - and a national unity debate - transformed overnight.
Attention now turns to who will attempt the rebuild. The CAQ, founded in 2011 as a vehicle for Francois Legault's nationalist-but-federalist project, must decide whether it has a future at all, or whether its voters have permanently scattered to the PQ, the Liberals and the Conservatives.
