Say what you want about his chances, but aside from the hair-net issue, the man is a force to be reckoned with. I don’t know a thing about Quebec’s internal politics, but I’m guessing a new applicant for the provinces seats will not be welcome news to the NDP or the Liberals.
“but aside from the hair-net issue, the man is a force to be reckoned with.” LOL!
This election campaign just got WAY more interesting.
I saw the “running of the bulls” just below and thought it was part of the same discussion, and then realized that that was is in reader tips. Butt it certainly would describe the Bloqs.
There are two things I know about the province’s politics.
First, there are two ideologies. One federalist that see’s the country as a power sharing agreement between Quebec and the rest of Canada, the other nationalist, that thinks the rest of Canada owes them.
Duceppe is an opportunist from the second group and he would not think of running if he wasn’t positive the Bloc would obtain enough seats to meet the requirement of official party status in the house.
That or thinks there are candidates in another party that would join the Bloc to meet the threshold.
Now that I think about it, I believe the member from Papineau mentioned some separatist sentiments if Stephen Harper remained Prime Minister.
Maybe the person who should be most worried is Mulcair. How many former separatists does he have in his party who might just decide to go back to the Bloc?
what a strange country Canada is. accepting a party that is basically calling for treason against the country. the treasonous party and people are rewarded with seats in the parliament of said country. does it get any dumber than that?.
I wish Mr. Duceppe the best, and hope for a resounding victory for his party, and the promise that he’ll lead them out of Canada.
not sarcasm.
Key sentence is this one:
“… who assured him the PQ is ready to provide the Bloc with support.”
I give it about a month, and the electoral landscape in Quebec will look quite different.
With PQ support, the Bloc is for real again.
Absolutely right. And it will affect the Libs and Dips right across Canada. The more they try to cater to soft sovereigntist voters in Quebec, the more they will suffer in the rest of Canada.
How will Justin divide his time campaigning between Quebec and the rest of Canada with Duceppe back on the scene? Will he concentrate more on Quebec or will Mommy Wynne of Ontario be demanding he spend more time in her domain? If ever a pair deserved each other it’s Wynne and Trudeau, should be fun to watch.
If I thought for one second that the son-of-a-bitch was sincere about a total seperation from Canada I’d cut him a cheque so fast.
I suspect that anything that takes away votes from Mulcair & Trudeau will be good for the Conservatives and as was suggested by another comment, the left will have to try to balance sucking up to Quebec but not alienating the rest of Canada. There should be a small sigh of relief in the Conservative election war room today.
I live on the South side of the river, but am very familiar with politics on the “other” side. Voters are very tribal there and often cast spoiler or protest votes. I expect the NDP vote to mostly hold and the PC vote to increase. Duceppe is yesterday’s guy.
Having made my “Official Prediction”TM expect it to be wrong.
BTW If it weren’t for the racist government policies and insane levels of taxation, I’d live there.
SNP Plaide Cymru anyone?
Do not think Quebecers are in love with Trudeau. I am sure they remember his father.
Am I the only one that thinks he will win a hand full of seats, then slip into a black hole never to be heard from again? He got obliterated last time, and as far as I can tell Quebec is actually quite content with the NDP. What possible grievance could they have against Tom?
Anything that causes confusion on the left is a good thing.
PQ, BQ, FLQ — what’s the difference?
Duceppe was handed his ass last time. Some savior – yesterday’s pathetic losers.
Problem is, he wants a “divorce with bed privileges”.
He came back after the delusional PKP offered the support of the PQ? C’mon. The Bloc hasn’t recovered from the pasting they got from Taliban jack. The leader they picked was inept and unable to rally the troops. With only months to go they haven’t even nominated a full slate of candidates. Another election disaster and they disappear into the dustbin of history. Duceppe was lobbied (forced)back into the position. It’s full damage control.
Quebek has a hard core of 15-20% of the population that are sovereigntists. In that group there are even fewer want to actually leave the country. They are prepared to suggest they will in order to make mischief. This tactic has been used by the LPC to direct money to quebek in order to ‘keep them in Canada’. This ruse hasn’t worked with Harper and quebek has largely been ignored by the Conservatives. After all they have only 5 MP’s from the province.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Bloc vote is more focused this time around and they make a modest recovery – at the expense of the NDP.
Quebek usually loves it’s native sons but PET was not one of them. He had a warm water feel on his best day in the Province. Jr can expect the same. Quebeckers have his number. He doesn’t resonating at home, they know phony when they see it.
While Duceppe will undoubtedly affect electoral drama in Quebec, the Duceppe effect will be felt more so in the ROC.
Duceppe’s name and image are all over the 2008 Coalition of Losers. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/liberals-ndp-bloc-sign-deal-on-proposed-coalition-1.700119
The result of which was these polls four days later (per wikipedia):
“An Ipsos-Reid poll suggested that if an election had been held on December 5 (2008), the Conservatives would have received 46% of the vote, enough to have easily formed a majority government. The poll also showed Liberal support had dropped to 23% from the 26.2% they received in the election, and New Democrat support fell to 13% from 18.2%. Also telling was that 56% of those polled said they would rather go to another election, rather than let the coalition govern”.
According Leger Marketing: ” In Western Canada, however, respondents were sharply opposed to the coalition, led by Albertans, who responded 71% in favour of new elections”.
The Conservatives should rejoice that the Coalition horse is not dead and can withstand some more beating.
I apologize for my poor use of a metaphor. In no way do I advocate for beating an actual horse, either dead or alive.
Okay – as long as you don’t beat it like a rented mule.
Confusion to the Enemy, say I.
Welcome Mr. Duceppe, may your duck-like feet further muddy the waters on the Left side of the voting pool, and may your candidacy suck useful idiots from both the Liberals and the NDPee.
This is great news for Harper. Quebec got caught up in a Jack Layton wave. 4 and half years later the shine has gone off and having a real separatist, rather than a Quebec first nationalist (Mulcair) on the table to vote for….a lot of people will revert to the mean.
Harper pretty much has a lock on a minority at this point. The question will be, can he push it just enough and profit just enough from vote splits and what not, in order to squeak out a majority.