[3][4] In January 2001, Lucien Bouchard announced that he would resign from public life, citing that the results of his work were not very convincing.

In March 2001, the Parti Québécois selected Bernard Landry as leader by acclamation, thus becoming premier of Quebec.

An important part of its support was going to the Action Démocratique du Québec (ADQ) and its young leader, Mario Dumont.

It first broadcast a negative advertisement (a bleak television spot speaking of deaths in the hospitals) that backfired substantially, with criticism from opponents and citizens.

Despite the PQ's recovery of support, Charest appeared as a viable alternative for people in desire of change, especially during the Leaders' Debate.

It was nonetheless a disappointment for the party since it had five sitting members as a result of by-election victories in the previous year.

A documentary about Bernard Landry's point of view of the campaign was released in 2003 called À Hauteur d'homme.

Jean Charest and the PLQ focused their campaign upon the issue of health care and reducing waiting lists.

The other major parties criticized Charest for planning to invest only in health care and education, while freezing other budgets.

This proposal would have required Quebec employers to offer the option of a four-day work week to parents.

This was presented by the PQ as a way to enhance family life, lower the stress on parents, and of counteracting the fall in Quebec's birthrate since the Quiet Revolution.

The theory of a fiscal imbalance between Ottawa and Quebec City was maintained and denounced by all major parties.

As proof that the PQ would be able to solve the fiscal imbalance, Landry pointed to his success of early 2003, when he, along with the English Canadian Premiers, managed to come to an agreement with Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien for more money to finance health care.

The PQ government, during the premiership of Landry's predecessor Lucien Bouchard, had merged the major cities of Quebec.

The government argued that the mergers would allow a better division of the wealth and responsibilities between richer suburban communities and poorer parts of the main cities.

The ADQ made great efforts to avoid taking a position on the subject of independence in order to attract both sides of the National Question spectrum.

An argument of Landry for this timetable was that he wanted Quebec to be present at the Summit of the Americas in Buenos Aires in 2005.

At the same time, Landry kept the door opened to federalist support for the PQ and stated that he would only hold a referendum if he had the "moral assurance" of winning it.

On the day of the leaders' debate, Charest's advisors gave him an article from the website of the Trois-Rivières newspaper Le Nouvelliste that spoke of past PQ leader Jacques Parizeau restating his controversial remarks about "money and the ethnic vote" which he had made in his 1995 referendum concession speech.

The PQ denounced Charest for launching an "immoral attack" on Parizeau's reputation and dignity, saying that the article was incorrect in concluding that he had repeated his comments, but this method of response was not enough to defuse the controversy.

The Commission de la représentation électorale performed a redistribution in 2001, which maintained the number of seats in the National Assembly at 125 for the next general election, making the following alterations:[5]