Fascinating

Canadian politics are getting really, really riveting. Look at these articles from the old media:

Trudeau switches targets in bid to cut Mulcair’s momentum in polls

Is Canada's Natural Governing Party down for the count? If Mulcair and the NDP are causing such a stir, what does that say about the Liberals? Will Baby Trudeau survive? (I doubt it.) Will the Liberal Party survive? Maybe. Maybe not.

There's this bit from an avowed Liberal, Warren Kinsella:

Team Trudeau: the news is in…

He laments:

“Liberals falling further behind NDP-Conservative race”
“Former Liberal acclaimed as NDP candidate”
“Trudeau switches targets in bid to cut Mulcair’s momentum”
“Brian Gallant won’t campaign for federal Liberals during election”
“This is still Harper’s election to lose”
“EKOS poll: Tories are up”

And then there's this:

Liberal MP caught on tape voicing concerns that Trudeau’s inner circle has ‘no political sense whatsoever’

My. My.

And this:

Mulcair Is Putting Canada At Risk By Pandering to Separatists

I hate to say this, but perhaps we should cut Angry Tom some slack. After all he was sent to parliament by Quebecers and the NDP's strong showing in La Belle Provence was at the expense of the Bloc, an avowedly separatist party.

We live in interesting times. It seems our Natural Governing Party is in trouble. How ironic that this should be the case when spawn of P.E.T. is the leader of the Liberal Party. That alone speaks volumes. The Liberal Party of Canada seems to be stuck in the past and has just woken up to the fact that said spawn ain't no carbon copy of Trudeau the Elder.

Hope This Holds

2015 Canadian federal election projection

If the cons are watching, now would be a good time to call an election.

Libs = 123
Cons = 143
NDP = 66
Greens = 2
BLOC = 4
Others = 0

I wonder which riding the extra "Green" will come from? Likely the left coast.

Au Revoir, Bloc?

Bloc has 2 members left as another MP quits

"The foundering Bloc Quebecois is down to just two MPs after 10-year veteran Andre Bellevance said Monday that he's quitting to sit as an independent."

Bloc Quebecois loses another MP as Andre Bellavance quits party

"Veteran Bloc Quebecois MP Andre Bellavance announced Monday that he too is quitting the embattled sovereigntist party because he can’t work with its new leader.

Bellavance said he will serve the rest of his mandate as an Independent and won’t seek re-election in 2015."

Bloc MP Andre Bellavance, former leadership candidate, quits party

"Bellavance said his decision to leave the party came after a recent meeting with Bloc Leader Mario Beaulieu, the man who beat Bellavance for the party leadership in June.

The Bloc has been in complete disarray since Beaulieu’s arrival over his approach to running the party. Beaulieu has pushed sovereignty as the main electoral theme even as polls suggest the appetite for it is waning."

André Bellavance quits the Bloc to sit as an Independent

"He blamed Beaulieu for not being able to quell the crisis brewing inside the party and a "witch-hunt" that has seen "pro-Bellavance" supporters harassed online for not being sovereigntist enough.

"Beaulieu calls himself a unifier, but for me, that is not the case," Bellavance said."

MP André Bellavance leaves Bloc Québécois: Will spend the rest of his term as an independent

"The spectacular departure of Richmond-Arthabaska MP André Bellavance from the Bloc Québécois Monday means a party already reduced to a rump in the last election is even weaker, its future more in doubt then ever."

Bloc Quebecois loses another MP: Andre Bellavance quits party; won’t run in 2015

"Bellavance has represented Richmond-Arthabaska since 2004 but the 10-year veteran said that he no longer felt at home in the sovereigntist party under Beaulieu.

He said he simply could not work with Beaulieu going forward.

“I no longer felt comfortable with this team,” Bellavance said. “I don’t feel that we are going in the right direction.”

Bellavance also denounced a “purity test for independence” that has taken place within the party to determine members’ commitment to sovereignty, saying that it had made him feel like an outsider.

“It made me feel like an impostor and an intruder within the Bloc,” Bellavance said.

He noted an “unhealthy atmosphere” within the party and described two very different political outfits: the Bloc Quebecois that existed “before June 14″ and the one “after June 14″ with Beaulieu at the helm."

This is angry Tom's fault.

Oh, My! My!

Quebec unrest: more arrests in a few hours than throughout the October Crisis

"The historic scope of the unrest in Quebec was illustrated in surreal scenes and statistics compiled early Thursday: More people were detained within a few hours — at least 650 of them, in mass roundups — than were arrested in all of the October Crisis. More than 2,500 people have been arrested in a months-long dispute that has catapulted the province onto international news pages, which is at least five times the number jailed during the 1970 FLQ crisis that saw martial law declared in Quebec."

This is for all you folks who think Trudeau was such an odious character.

Notice the Parti Quebecois leader is opening the door for more of the same:

"“The government has led us to the worst social crisis we have ever known in Quebec,” Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois scolded the premier during a legislature exchange Thursday."

In other words, stick around folks. I think we can use you.

But, no Pauline. No Quebec cabinet minister has been murdered. No foreign diplomat has been kidnapped. Quit exaggerating and exploiting a bad situation for your own gain. This is serious stuff.

FLQ

October Crisis

I Didn't Know...

...there was a Golden Pig award. I must say, I agree with their choice of winner for this year's Golden Pig:

"Former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe has been awarded the top prize by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which annually hands out gold pigs to government officials it says have spent the most public dollars on the least worthwhile things.

Dressed in a tux and accompanied by a pig-costumed mascot, CTF federal director Gregory Thomas pronounced Mr. Duceppe the 2012 lifetime achievement winner at the group’s annual Teddy Awards."

This Morning...

...I've been listening to video clips from both CBC and CTV. Surprisingly, or maybe not, both seem to think the Liberals are done for. God, please make then right. That must have the CBC shaking in its boots, though.

Another thing, Gilles Duceppe is being hauled in front of a House of Commons inquiry about his use of taxpayer funding. Hopefully, this will receive good coverage in Quebec. How he, and other Quebec separatists, can justify his use of public funds at the same time as advocating separation from Canada is a mystery. (Well, it's not really. Even in the old days when Reni Levesque et al were threatening separation, during the referendums, and so on, the idea was to be a free and separate nation while continuing to suck on the public teat.) With the Bloc's devastating defeat on May 2nd, perhaps this signals the end of Quebec's separatists as a political force to be reckoned with. One can only hope.

Well, That's Fine

...leave, then.

Well, It's Started...

NDP tries to quell rumours of a coup in Jack Layton's absence

Layton absence latest challenge for NDP rookies

With Jack Layton's departure, the ground shifts in Ottawa

Better send out the big guns:

...like Gerry Kaplan.

The NDP isn't over, with or without Jack

Ya, well. We'll see.

I'm betting Gilles is planning his comeback.

May 3rd, 2011 - A New Day In Canada?

Latest poll of note has the Bloc polling second place, behind the NDP. Now wouldn't that be interesting? All the whiny socialism of the Bloc, but no separatist agitation. Is that what Quebeckers want?

Note that nationally the Dippers have pulled ahead of the Libs, too.

Wouldn't that be something? Another minority government with the Con in first place, but now having to "work with" the NDP. Scaaaarrrry!

He, he, he, he!

Layton trumps Duceppe in Quebec!! Oh, who to root for? What a dilemma.

Flatlined

Here's an interesting graphic showing the popularity of the various political parties' leaders so far in this campaign. Note the Greens and the Bloc have just about flatlined and the Liberals barely have a pulse. The only two leaders with some life in them are the Cons (still comfortably ahead) and the Dippers, who must be euphoric. I wonder if this election will be enough to make the left of centre parties consider a merger. They could very well be sucking up to Laytoon for the foreseeable future.

Oh, That's Rich

Harper wooing Newfoundland ‘with Quebeckers’ money’: Duceppe