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At the risk of repeating myself: It’s not the media that are mainly to blame for increasing public cynicism about politics. It’s the actions of politicians themselves.

Last week, the Couillard government called a by-election in Chicoutimi riding for April 11. The vacancy was created when Stéphane Bédard of the Parti Québécois resigned in October after party leader Pierre Karl Péladeau demoted him from PQ house leader in the National Assembly, cutting his annual pay by nearly $32,000.

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Bédard is the ninth member of the Assembly to resign his seat in the less than two years since the last general election April 7, 2014, a record pace since Confederation.

One of them, Marjolain Dufour of the PQ, resigned for health reasons. The other eight quit on their constituents for reasons of personal ambition in one form or another.

Shortly after the 2014 election, Christian Dubé of the Coalition Avenir Québec and Élaine Zakaïb of the PQ took better-paying jobs rather than sit in the opposition for four years waiting for another chance to be cabinet ministers.