ADQ's ex-leader done with politics and looks to TV

From great right hope to TV host Mario Dumont officially makes the transition next week.

The one-time boy wonder of Quebec politics, symbol of hope for conservatives, ally of Stephen Harper and near-premier of Quebec, switches careers next week to host Dumont 360 an hour-long, French-language current events show.

The former leader of the Action Dmocratique du Qubec is the star attraction on a tiny Quebec network called V-Tl, which rose from the ashes of the perennially cash-strapped and now-defunct TQS.

He insists his subject matter will go well beyond politics. In fact, the lifelong politician expresses mild annoyance when discussing his old career.

He says he's fed up with news reports that he might leap to federal politics, has no idea how his old provincial party will fare without him, and is instead looking forward to weighing in on matters outside the political arena.

"I know that some people will be expecting that because I am coming from the political spectrum, that it will be a lot of politics in this show and that's not the case," he told reporters.

"That's part of what's exciting about this, being able to expand my horizons and do interviews on subjects I know personally but was never able to comment on publicly."

Dumont want to turn people on to issues

Dumont said the show will include regional news bulletins as well as in-depth analysis and commentary on a variety of cultural, social and human-interest subjects.

"In my former life, the goal was to convince people," he said. "If people weren't convinced of what we were saying, it was a failure."

His new goal is to get people interested in different issues, to get them talking about them at the water cooler, and to get them to tune in regularly to hear more.

Although he stopped short of calling himself a journalist, Dumont said he will play the role of interviewer.

Used to being on the receiving end of questions, he says he's excited about the new challenge.

"People have things to say and it's your role as the host to make sure they will get it out," he said.

No regrets about long political career

While he looks forward to ditching his old career and speaking to Quebecers in a more intimate way, Dumont insisted he's not politically jaded.

"I spent more than 20 years in politics, almost 15 of them in [the provincial] parliament, and I have no regrets," he said.

"I worked with really extraordinary people, but that's the past and I'm not going back there."

The ADQ founder spent years building up his party which came within a hair of winning the 2007 Quebec election, and wound up as the official Opposition in a minority Parliament.

Conservatives across the country had high hopes for Dumont.

He was seen as evidence that, after decades of serving as this country's left wing liberal bastion, the political tide was finally turning in Quebec.

Suddenly, the province and many of its 75 federal seats seemed within reach. Many of Dumont's foot-soldiers eagerly helped the federal Tories.

But hopes of a conservative golden age in the province suddenly appeared fleeting. Those lofty visions of Dumont becoming premier, and the Harper Tories winning a majority government thanks to big seat gains in Quebec, evaporated late last year in provincial and federal elections.

The gaffe-prone, rookie-filled ADQ caucus was seen as unprepared for the political big leagues, and voters reduced it back to a rump.

And the Harper government's closeness with Dumont also angered many potential allies in Jean Charest's Liberal government, harming the Tories organizationally.

On the night of the last provincial election, right after the results came in, Dumont resigned from the party he helped to found.

His show will air at 5 p.m. Monday to Friday in Quebec, starting next week.