Québec the Strange

I've been looking at election stats. I do that a lot. Two bizarre things I've learnt tonight about Québec and feel like sharing:

• While we know the name 'Papineau' from Wee Justin Trudeau, Liberal MP of the federal riding located on the island of Montréal straddling that island's linguistic divide, it turns out that provincially there's also a Papineau riding. That in and of itself isn't noteworthy - except that the provincial Papineau riding is in the Outaouais, bordering Gatineau and nowhere near its federal namesake.
• Richard Holden was a provincial MNA who sadly committed suicide in 2005, first ran for office in 1962 as an independent. He finished second, and also finished second as a Progressive Conservative running federally in 1979. His first - and only - electoral vicotry was provincially in 1989 when he won a seat in the National Assembly for the Equality Party - a federalist party devoted to English-language rights in Québec. What's truly bizarre is that Holden then crossed the floor - to the Parti Québécois, the primarily francophone seperatist party. This about-face was so controversial and bizarre that even his brother stopped speaking to him.

As I discover more bizarre things (the ADQ's amazing flash in the pan comes to mind), I might add them. I might slowly turn it into a 'Lust for Lists' entry - who knows?