Parti Qubcois leader Pauline Marois

Five years after taking over as Parti Qubcois leader, Pauline Marois faces the political battle of her career in this election.

Can Marois, the doyenne of Quebecs separatist movement, capitalize on public disaffection with the Liberal government?

Can shetamethe mercurial factions that make up Quebecs sovereigntist troopsthekey to deliver aPQ electoral victory?

Its a tall order for Quebecs Madame de Bton the Cement Ladyas editorialists christened her earlier this year.

But Marois has shown steely political perseverance in her half-decade as PQ leader, weathering party infighting, desertions, stagnant popularity in the polls and the spectre of former Bloc Qubcois leader Gilles Duceppe.

'The biggest risk to Quebec isnt sovereignty.It is staying in Canada.' PQ Leader Pauline Marois

Sinceshe was anointedPQ leader in 2007, Marois has deftly steered theparty back to its social democratic roots, exemplifiedmost recently byunwaveringPQ membersupport for striking students in the tuition protest movement.

She captained two years of steady opposition pressure on the Liberal government at Quebecs national assembly in the continuing public works corruption scandal.

Maroisappeasednationalist hardlinerswith her pledge to expand Quebecs Bill 101 language law and to create a Quebec citizenship charter to promote "common values" and secularism in the province.

And while Marois, in her early days as PQ leader, distanced herself fromthe sovereignty referendum issue, she has come full circle.

With the ascent of Stephen Harper's Conservative government in Ottawa, Maroisfound a new foil for Quebec's independence: Ottawa's unpopular, right-wing policies.

Sovereignty is once again the PQ's key objective.

"The biggest risk to Quebec isnt sovereignty," she told supporters this spring. "It is staying in Canada."

Big PQ players walked away under Marois

WhetherMarois cangalvanize Quebec's fractured sovereigntist movement remains to be seen.

Severalparty veterans have walked away recently, notably Louise Beaudoin, Pierre Curzi and Lizette Lapointe. Theypublicly denouncedMarois in the controversy swirling around the construction of a new hockey arena in Quebec City.

Some defectors havejoined the PQs nemesis, Coalition Avenir Qubec, the no-referendum-for-a-decade upstart partyled by former PQ cabinet minister Franois Legault.

Other PQ veterans walked away to sit as independents orhave formed their own political parties. (Jean-Martin Aussantfounded the Option Nationale).

Marois hasdrawn media-savvy star candidates toher fold, including former Radio-Canada journalist Pierre Duchesne andJean-Franois Lise, an analyst andformer advisor to twoPQ premiers.

Critics say Marois shouldhave enjoyed sky-high poll numbers these past years,given the looming depth of discontent towardstheLiberal government. It hasn't happened.

And that couldprove to be Marois's greatest campaign challenge how todraw sovereigntists into her campthis time around.

First female PQ leader boasts unequalled experience

Marois, 63, is among the most tenacious and successful Quebec politicians inhistory and a trailblazer for women in public office.

As the first woman leader of any Quebec political party,she brought decades of legislative and executiveexperience to the job.

Her public track record is linked intimately to Parti Qubcois historyand includes15 cabinet positions under four former premiers (Ren Lvesque, Lucien Bouchard, Jacques Parizeau and Bernard Landry.)

From herfirst stint as press secretary in the 1970s to Quebecs then-finance minister Parizeau, to overseeing education, health and finance portfolios, Marois has been involved in the province'strademark social programs.

Shehelped draft Quebec's progressive youth protection legislation in the 1980s and engineered the provinces envied low-cost daycare system.

Her first bid for the PQ leadership failed in 1985, when she ran and lost against Pierre-Marc Johnson in a race to replace Lvesque.

Asecond leadership bid in 2006 ended with her retirement from politics afterparty members picked Andr Boisclair,a young upstart ex-cabinet minister.

FollowingthePQ's disastrousperformance in the 2007 elections, Marois returned to public life to take over the party.

She briefly faced a formidable opponent, Gilles Duceppe, whobowed out of the race just 24 hours after declaring his candidacy. Marois was acclaimed.

Her personal wealth has been publicly scrutinized. She and her husband Claude Blanchet sued the Montreal Gazette for defamation over a 2007 investigation that raised questions about their former multimillion-dollar home on le-Bizard.

The case was settled out of court.

Marois hasfour children: Catherine, Flix, Franois-Christophe and Jean-Sbastien.