The PQ's brush with Pierre Karl Pladeau cost the party dearly

Former Parti Qubcois leader Pierre Karl Pladeaustormed through his party with the speed of a tornado.

Here's aquick run-down of the key issues he leaves behind for the party to clean up.

Where did everyone go?

While wooing the man that would be the party saviour, the Parti Qubcois shed many valuable members of its team.

Many observers have argued that Pladeau's sovereignty fist-pump stirred a referendum threat that cost then-leader Pauline Marois the 2014 election.

• PaulineMaroisloses electoral Hail Mary

With that, the party lost 24 MNAs including several key ministers like Bertrand St-Arnaud, Pierre Duchesne, and Diane De Courcy, along with former student leader Lo Bureau-Blouin.

EvenMaroislost her seat.

It wasn't the firsttime a brush withPladeaucost the party dearly.

In 2011, prior to Pladeau's entry into politics, the PQ supported a bill meant to protect a contract his company Quebecor had signed with Quebec City.

It was a tipping point that ended with a half-dozen MNAs slamming the door, including heavy hitters like former language minister Louise Beaudoin, Jacques Parizeau's wife Lisette Lapointe, and well-known actor Pierre Curzi.

Yet more would follow.

Stphane Bdard had held the party together for a year as interim leader, even causing its poll numbers to go up.

Five months after Pladeau replaced him, Bdard had packed his bags for Chicoutimi, officially to spend more time with his family, although the fact that the new leader had recently sidelined him politically escaped no one.

Key staff members also left.

Take Simon Lajoie, who left after spending 14 years as the party's expert in parliamentary procedure, a key skill that can't be found through a classified ad.

Every penny counts

The Parti Qubcois is also more than $1 millionin debt, mainly due to its poor showing in the last election,not the result of Pladeau's leadership.

Still, it must now organize some sort of contest to replace him.

Even if the candidates pay in part for the race through registration fees, they will have to, once again, pass the hat around among the party faithful.

It will be the second time in a year they've been solicited to contribute toward a race, and they will soon be asked to bolster the PQ's sorry war chest for an election campaign, only two years away.

The brand

Under Marois' guidance, MNAs had draped themselves in white scarves to signify the party's ethical purity.

Her party fought and won an effort to create the office of ethics commissioner.

The signal they chose was clear: the Parti Qubcois is a party of ethical standards.

• Marois unveils ethics plan

But when Pladeau arrived, the party's MNAs were left in the awkward position of defending the fact that their colleague, and later leader, was the controlling shareholder of Quebec's most important media empire.

The National Assembly ethics commissioner told MNAs to fix the hole in the ethics code.

The PQ said critics were trying to unseat a duly-elected MNA.

Now, Pladeau is gone, and so isthat argument.

• PKP's timid reign reflected PQ's identity crisis

Butthe MNAs who insisted there was nothing wrong with his situation are still there. The PQ's political adversaries will likely try to change the code of ethics to block any future Pladeaus,and this will put the party's MNAs in a tricky spot.

It will be hard for the Parti Qubcois to accept a change without appearing to admit that there was something wrong with their leader's situation to begin with.