by CHRIS BARRY

While pretty well everyone has been focusing their attention on some sort of war or other alleged to be going down in the Middle East some place, a few of the sharper journalists in the Mirror newsroom recently caught wind of a rumour alleging that a provincial election is supposed to be going down in Quebec this month, apparently as soon as this Monday. Working on the assumption that this may, indeed, be more than just a rumour, we decided to track down a few local candidates and get their rhetoric on the most pressing issues of the day, but also, and more importantly, to find out which bands they're into and what they like to watch on television. Here's what they told us.

Riding: NDG

Age: 28

Bio: This first-rate fiddle player, professional cook, Concordia student, grass-roots activist and former grunt in the Armed Forces says she was inspired to get involved in electoral politics after working with student and anarchist groups protesting the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City back in April 2001. "[The organization of the protesters] was the closest thing to real democracy I had ever seen. They were so committed to democracy that they were willing to sit through endless hours of meetings to get consensus on absolutely everything. There was real solidarity there and it was great. Yet there was such a gap between us radical activists and the everyday people in Quebec City who just couldn't grasp what we were on about. The Green Party is here to bridge that gap"

A few things she will do if elected: Provide improved outreach programs to new immigrants, re-institute trams to NDG, create more bike paths and work to implement tougher environmental standards with respect to new building construction in NDG.

Something that rubs her the wrong way: The McGill Superhospital project: the lack of democracy in the way it is being planned, the environmental impact that the massive incineration of medical waste, increased congestion and pollution from car traffic will have.

Is there any truth to the rumour that, should the Green Party win a majority government, they will pass legislation conscripting all citizens to wear Birkenstocks and spend their summers tree-planting? Apparently not.

Childhood ambition: To save the planet.

Last book read: Water Wars, by Vandana Shiva.

Musical tastes: Urs Karpatz, Karen Tweed.

Has she experienced much condescension from her opponents since she decided to run? "Oh yeah, for sure. But let me get this message across. We are a serious party, we have a serious platform that is realistic and feasible, has been done in other countries and we're in this for the long run. The Green Party is here to stay."

Riding: NDG

Age: 43

Bio: Born and raised in his riding, Russell is looking to win his third term as MNA for NDG. He's also a pretty decent golfer, sporting a handicap of 25.

Two things he's on about: Improved access to health and home care for NDG's sizable elderly population. The need to open another French language school in his 'hood.

Given how securely Liberal the NDG riding is, does he feel he could start quoting from Mein Kampf and still win the election? "I don't think quoting Hitler is recommended. And I don't want voters to feel they are taken for granted. I run a very vigorous campaign here. I've been putting in 14-hour days lately."

Are there a lot of politician groupies at the provincial level, chicks eager to get their lips around a Liberal member? "Groupies is too strong a word, but yes, there is a recognition factor there. But Camelot is over, and has been for some time."

Childhood ambition: To become a Protestant minister. He has since converted to Judaism.

Last book read: How to be Good, by Nick Hornby.

Musical preferences: Avril Lavigne, the Rankin Family.

Something he doesn't like: Hip hop.

Fave TV show: The West Wing.

Where you might find him hangin': The Second Cup on Monkland.

Whose gonna win it all this year? "We are!"

Riding: NDG

Age: 59 "But I look 49."

Bio: A former candidate for the Catholic priesthood, Tom studied in a seminary for five years back in the mid-'60s but left because, "I don't know, maybe I was asking too many questions that they didn't like." He has a Ph.D. in philosophy but claims he doesn't "use philosophy to work mind games on people."

Inspiration: "Well, I've always been interested in saving the world. We are at a stage in our society where we need to rethink quite a few things - and I think I'm good for that." Disturbed by the evolution of the "media-fuelled youth culture" that emerged in the 1960s and which really began to corrupt social mores in the '70s, Tom believes "this [youth culture] has since developed a life of its own - and this is not good. It has created people who are lacking any sense of ideals, of where they are going or of the purpose of life - except for what the media provides to them as justification. And I'm a person who used to rock and roll with the best of them when I was younger - I was a fan of the Beatles and Elvis.

What his party is emphasizing: "Traditional family values."

Something they are pushing: "We would like to provide a salary to women so they can stay at home. The situation of daycare - where the government is taking money out of our pockets to actually encourage women to go out and work and leave their kids in a faceless daycare - increases the problems I have just been talking about"

How this plan will work: "We would give money to people when they had kids, plain and simple, $430 per child per month. If they wanted, they could pay for daycare out of this money, but we would cancel the present daycare system."

An important issue in NDG: The male high school dropout rate. "The culture favours young males dropping out of school because it favours some kind of sexual dominance and, in fact, this has been the biggest contribution to [male students'] inability to participate effectively in a system where girls are always present. There is a hormonal reaction that takes place [in young males] and teens are so affected hormonally - as I was myself, if I recall correctly - that it practically wipes out their ability to participate and achieve within the school system.

How to solve the problem of hormone-crazed teenage boys dropping out of school so they can avoid chicks and spend more time at home masturbating: A sex-segregated school system.

A film he saw recently and really liked: Mission to Mars.

Riding: D'Arcy McGee

Bio: This handsome young bank manager is rumoured to play a mean clarinet and comes from a long line of politically active Breaults. A card-carrying member of the PQ since puberty, Mathieu says he is running in this election "because the PQ is the best party to represent all Quebecers."

Is D'Arcy McGee a lonely place to be a péquiste? "Well, we have people running in all 125 ridings and I think it's important that people have the opportunity to vote PQ here. I have lived in this area for the last five years and I love living here, but I understand the reality that it is a very tough riding for me to be campaigning in. That's normal."

Is he discovering Quebec sovereignty to be a surprise sleeper hit with the electorate of his riding? "Um, sovereignty is not a focus of our campaign right now. We will do sovereignty when the Quebec people want us to."

Is it perhaps not such a great idea to start quoting the late, great, anti-Semite and nationalist hero Lucien L'Allier while campaigning in the predominantly Jewish riding of D'Arcy McGee? "Huh? I'm sorry, what is your question, sir?"

Is he happy with his campaign photo? "Sure, I guess. But my posters don't stay up for very long before somebody takes them down. But I say to myself, ‘Hey, that's just the attitude of D'Arcy McGee.' That's normal."

Musical preferences: Vanessa-Mae, Ozzy Osbourne.

Childhood ambition: To become a train conductor.

Last book read: Computer: A History of the Information Machine, by Martin Campbell-Kelly.

Is he going to win it all this year? "No, I don't think so."

Riding: Westmount–St Louis

Age: 51

Bio: Diane has been working with the Marxist-Leninist Party since the mid-'70s and was originally inspired to get involved with the party because "I wanted to change things."

Her party's primary objective: "Basically, we are interested in working with people and assisting them so they can better organize their own projects for society, and where it is they who hold sovereignty. In our society the people are marginalized, very much left out of the decision-making process. We want to work with people to bring about change so they do have a voice and control over what's going on."

Does she find that many people do not understand where the Marxist-Leninists are coming from and are concerned that, should they attain power, they will pass legislation commanding that every citizen name their first-born Ivan or risk being sent away to the salt mines? "I think the populace is a lot more astute than they are given credit for. Most of the prejudice directed towards our party comes from the media. Our party is called Marxist-Leninist, which is communism, but to me communism means getting rid of exploitation, so I don't think there is anything wrong with that."

Something she feels strongly about: That Quebec is a nation, not just a province in Canada.

Is the Marxist-Leninist agenda proving to be a real winner with the proletariat on the tree-lined streets of upper Westmount? "There are all kinds of people in Westmount. You can't just think that all of them are rich and don't care about what is taking place in society."

Riding: Westmount–St-Louis

Age: 66

Inspiration to get in to politics: "Quebec's execrable language laws."

What he's yakking about: "Equality is the civil rights party in Quebec. That is our sole raison d'être. Quebec's language laws are a disgrace in a civilized society and this party is committed to getting rid of them."

Something else that gets Equality's goat: The forced municipal mergers.

Does Equality have many candidates running in the Lac-St-Jean region this election? "No, we do not."

Does he feel the local English print media has deliberately tried to marginalize his party? Yes. "Most of what you would call the English establishment in Quebec have basically agreed that the lesser of two evils is the Liberal Party - even though they are nationalist, reject the Clarity Act and supported a law that would have allowed Quebec to secede on 50 per cent +1 [referendum result]. If you go along with the Liberals you have to accept being a second-class citizen. And [the English establishment] doesn't like to be reminded of that. The Equality Party's business is to remind people that they are indeed second-class citizens by being deprived of fundamental civil rights. But if you are a Liberal supporter or the editor of the Gazette or the Hour you basically, simply turn [Equality] off, pretend that they're trivial, that they're wrong, that they're biased, isolated or that they're anti-Quebec and racist. But we are none of those things. We just put it in their face that they are second-class citizens."

Does the Equality Party bunker have a giant dartboard with [Equality Party defector and former PQ MNA] William Holden's face on it? Not exactly. "Holden was a complete villain as far as I'm concerned. A disreputable and sleazy individual who helped ruin the party."

Childhood ambition: To become a fireman.

Last book read: The Lunar Men, by Jenny Uglow.

Musical preferences: Classical, bluegrass.

Is he expecting to win it all this year? "I believe there is only a very small chance, to be honest."

Riding: Outremont

Age: 30

Bio: This dedicated activist and co-founder of the Immigrant Workers' Centre has worked extensively with Project Genesis and been pushing hard for more equitable labour, immigration, pension and welfare rights for the last nine years. "The UFP is built on a grass-roots community approach and based more on social movements than your traditional political parties."

Inspiration to run: Jill says she has seen the effects of current social policies first-hand, and the recently formed UFP was the first time she came across a party policy platform that she felt "just might work" and would "be good for my life, too."

The cornerstone of the UFP's platform: Anti-globalization.

One of her most pressing concerns for the citizens of Outremont: "Decent working conditions. So people get a minimum wage which lifts them out of poverty and that people who do contract work get some security and access to social programs. Social housing is also a very big concern of mine. Of course, when you're talking about work issues and social housing it's all related to poverty - and the fact that we don't have an equitable economic system."

Something else the UFP is pushing: Proportional representation.

Does she feel having a good French Canadian name like Jill Hanley is an asset in her Outremont riding? "Well, people identify the UFP as a francophone party and I think it means something to them that there is an anglo running for it in Outremont. I think it's making people look twice."

Childhood ambition: To become ambassador to the USSR.

Last book read: Gandhi: An Autobiography.

Musical preferences: Ani DiFranco.

Riding: Verdun

Age: 25

Inspiration to get into politics: "Because I think politics is a very nice thing to do with your life, a good way to make a real change in the lives of the people. I know I am a very good representative of my society, and I think our riding needs somebody that is going to make the people of Verdun their first priority."

One thing he is concerned about: Social housing.

Is it the ADQ's plan to bulldoze all of Verdun's social housing so the bums living there finally discover the motivation to step outside, find good paying jobs in the fast-food industry and eventually go on to purchase their own condos along the Lachine Canal? Not exactly. "I believe more in co-operative housing. It makes people more responsible for their area. It's a way to break the cycle of poverty. "

Something the ADQ is pushing: A guaranteed annual minimum salary for all citizens. "But people should have more money if they work than if they don't. We have a lot of things to prevent poverty in our program."

Would one of those things be to round up and gas all Verdun citizens currently on social assistance? No.

Is the flat tax an easy sale in the largely working-class riding of Verdun? "Remember, Nun's Island is part of Verdun too. We haven't dropped the idea of a flat tax, but we looked at the numbers and decided it was not a good thing to do right now because we don't have the money. Maybe if we win and go on to a second term we will be able to implement it then."

Is he gonna win it all this year? "Absolutely!"

Words of wisdom: "If you are always yelling about politics yet you do nothing about it, then you deserve the government that you have."

Age: 21

Riding: Ste-Marie - St-Jacques

Inspiration to get in to politics: To expose "the lies that the government has told us to keep prohibition in place. I want people to know the truth."

What gets his political goat: "I want to grow my own pot in my apartment legally and be able to smoke weed without having to look over my shoulder all the time. I just don't want to be a criminal, and right now I'm a criminal every single day."

Does he live in the basement of his parents' house, smoking pot all day while listening to Black Sabbath and staring intently at a black-light poster of Jimi Hendrix in his bedroom? No. "But some of the media sees us like this."

Why the Bloc Pot supports legalization over decriminalization: "Because decriminalization won't bring anything back to the government or the citizens. If you legalize pot, the revenue generated will go back into the pockets of government and not organized crime. I speculate that with the money generated from pot sales we could take care of all the fiscal worries of health and education within two years."

Something else the Bloc Pot is pushing: Proportional representation.

Does he feel the National Assembly might come up with more creative solutions to the province's problems if its MNAs were always stoned? "It would be worth a try."

How often he gets high: Every day.

Where he hangs out: Café Campus.

Musical preferences: White Stripes, Sublime, Aphex Twin.

Last book read: Pourquoi & comment cultiver du chanvre, by Michka.

Is he gonna win it all this year!? "No, I don't think so."