Alright, I admit it: having elections is better than not having them. Yet they almost invariably leave me feeling frustrated and depressed – and this latest election in Quebec is no exception. People obviously aren’t satisfied with the way things are going, yet they turn to someone like Mario Dumont, who really has nothing different to offer apart from a charming folksy style – and a not-so-charming approach to cultural diversity.

According to surveys, most of the people who voted ADQ didn’t actually want it to win the election – although they almost pushed the ADQ over the top by accident. Very often people get fed up with “politics as usual”, but creating a genuinely new politics will require than a protest vote.

The one good thing about the ADQ’s rise is that it may finally take Quebec politics off the track of federalist vs. separatist polarization. But once again, the political discourse we heard during the election barely touched on how the way we are living as a society is unbalanced, unsustainable and unjust. We as a people are not speaking up against the idea that it’s perfectly appropriate to treat other people and nature as mere “resources” to be exploited for profit or as garbage cans to be poisoned for profit, or as mere obstacles to profit-led development.

It’s better to have elections than not have them, but there’s got to be more to democracy than the machinery of elections in motion. More than the discourse of the leaders; more than their squabbles. Any positive change is going to have to come from us, not from the leaders. Democracy means it's up to us.