Will Gilles go for it?

So Bernard Landry has decided to step down as leader of the Parti Quebecois, after a disappointing result in his leadership review.

It will be interesting to see what date is set for the leadership convention. Will the PQ wait until after the federal election, to allow Gilles Duceppe to lead the Bloc in that campaign, then switch to provincial politics? We're unlikely to see a provincial election any time before 2007, given the unpopularity of the Charest government, so there is no real need to rush to find a successor. But will other pretenders to the throne be willing to concede the race so easily? As popular as the Bloc might be right now, the absence of a strong leader could cost them some gains in the federal election. Would Duceppe leave the federal party if a convention were called for the fall/early winter?

I'm not nearly as alert to internal party quarrels in the PQ/BQ family as I should be, but I rather suspect that not everyone is going to be ready to offer the leadership to Duceppe on a silver platter. The question is, how far might they go to block his ambitions (assuming that he has them)?

More thoughts later, as this story unfolds...

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