Sister Sage's Musings

Posts Tagged ‘Gilles Duceppe’

I can’t say this is surprising. I knew that Jean Charest would jump at the chance to attempt to buy himself some love again from the Quebec voters.  Yesterday, he committed 180 million dollars for this project in addition to what Quebec City mayor, Regis Lebeaume has already committed. In all, 400 million dollars is necessary. Since this is Quebec, where our infrastructure projects are known to be finished way over deadline and way over budget, count on it going above and beyond 400 million smackers.

That’s just great! I mean, Charest got himself in trouble with his last budget , implementing user fees and a nasty zombie; the health care contribution which starts this year. Those super hospitals that were supposed to be long built are still empty lots.

Our public schools are suffering. For Gawd’s sake, did you know that parents are obliged to send their kids to their public schools with their own toilet paper? That’s right, kids. Kim Fraser on CJAD did a whole segment on her show about how much parents have to cough up these days just to send their kids to public schools and all the supplies they have to purchase. Amongst that long shopping list, was toilet paper.  Pathetic!

But, golly gee, Charest, who finds himself mired in scandals, which honestly, if they didn’t exist, they would had to have been invented–that’s just the way it goes in Quebec. When French Quebec generally deems the Liberals have been in power for too long, a ‘crisis’ pops up like magic! Trust me, my readers from the province of Quebec know exactly what I’m talking about.  The Parti-Quebecois ain’t so squeaky clean,neither. Particularly, not that shrew Pauline Marois when she held various ministries under Lucien Bouchard and Bernard Landry.

It’s been a rough spring and summer for Charest and the death of  MNA Claude Bechard  of  Temiscouata-Kamouraska, no doubt,  would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. But really, Jean, a hockey arena? For an NHL team that doesn’t even exist?  NHL commissioner Gary Bettman certainly hasn’t committed to anything. From what I understand, he’s saying, build the arena and we’ll see.

I’m surprised Charest is pledging this tax payer money, though. I never would have imagined him doing such a thing as a fed  under the old Progressive Conservatives years ago. I thought he would be smart enough to know that this arena won’t curry favor with him. Gilles Duceppe and the separatists will use the hypothetical Nordiques Part deux to promote sovereignty as Kelly McParland explained not long ago.

“That’s right! If we were independent, we’d have a great big arena in Quebec and our team would only speak French and we’d win the Stanley Cup eight times out of 10, because when you’re independent, you win the Stanley Cup.”)

As silly as that sounds, McParland is correct, that is exactly how the separatists will paint this. Remember, the separatists had used the Quebec Olympic athletes’ performances to promote sovereignty as well; the precedent certainly exists.  Thus, Charest would not be seen as having been the savior of Quebec hockey. In fact, those scandals which he faces will still remain front and center and he will continue to wear his last budget.

As I’ve pointed out in previous posts and on other comment boards, after fifteen years, we’re due for another referendum on sovereignty and this one better count; Quebec’s place within or without Canada needs to be resolved one way or the other.  Sorry, Premier Charest, you’re the big loser here; you should have taken the high road; either way, your days are numbered; the least you can do is just say “No!” to paying for that new arena. After all,  John Molson didn’t use tax payer dollars to build the Molson Center (now the Bell Center); neither did any other Canadian jurisdiction. The precident simply isn’t there. The very least you can do with whatever time you have left in the Premier’s chair is to try fix public health care and education, seriously! If the schools can’t supply even the cheapest of toilet paper, there is a serious problem here.

It was argued over the week-end by Norman Spector that Pierre-Karl Peladeau was working feverishly hard to fight the CRTC to get his Harpercon infomercial channel on a “must carry” license so he can lobby Master Steve for the bucks to pay for the majority of that new white elephant.  Here’s a thought, if Peladeau is the billionaire, why doesn’t he foot the bill for this arena the same way Molson did in Montreal for the Habs?    I had provided examples of Juinior’s business past that may indicate that Peladeau may not have quite the midas touch in business Big Daddy Peladeau had.

After some Harpercon puppets were seen sporting old Nordiques jerseys about town, it seems to be more likely that Stevie spiteful will be engaging in some of his trademark pork barrel politics in Quebec City.  As Don Martin pointed out, his puppets would not be running around like cheerleaders in the Nordiques jerseys without orders from the Master hisself.   So Stevie spiteful, in not only a desperate attempt to keep his existing Quebec seats, but perhaps an attempt to buy more, is also trying to buy himself some Quebecois lovin’ with this bloody arena. Jean-Pierre Blackburn has said that federal funding cannot be accomplished without some kind of private partnership.   Not to mention, if Stevie spiteful coughs up the dough to buy that Quebecois lovin’, it could cause a backlash in the rest of the country for him, especially from places like Edmonton and Hamilton who seek to either build or upgrade existing arenas in their own cities.

And so, the elements are converging to create a political squeeze play pitting West against East, fiscal prudence against profligacy, vote buying in Quebec against voter backlash everywhere else.

Waiting and watching from the sidelines are NHL owners in Calgary and Edmonton who occupy the league’s sixth and second oldest rinks respectively, eyeing this as a funding precedent which the Conservatives will have a hard time ignoring in their Alberta fortress.

Just wait until Regina demands federal help for a domed football stadium or Ottawa extends its palm for a stadium handout to refurbish its inner city park. And if Quebec gets a returning NHL franchise while Jet-less Winnipeg waits in vain, well, what a mess

A mess? Now, that’s putting it mildly.  However, like the Quebec Liberals tend to take for granted that Anglophones will always vote for them, thus they tend to ignore them  & they pander more to Francophones, I suspect that Steve may feel the same way about the west, namely, Alberta. Look at every poll, consistantly, the Harpercons poll above 50%,  many times, over 60% in Alberta; thus,  perhaps, like Charest with the Anglophones, Steve may well take Alberta for granted. Another problem is that old myth that Alberta and Alberta alone supports Quebec and the have not provinces.   If federal money is awarded for this arena while Edmonton may go without, won’t go over well.

In addition to potentially losing in the rest of Canada, there is no guarantee he will win more seats in Quebec or even keep the ones he already has. Remember, Duceppe has been lobbying Steve for awhile now. If Steve does decide to kick in the rest of the cash for this white elephant, one can be sure that Duceppe will be sure to be front and center, in front of the microphones and cameras taking credit for all of this, and let’s face it, when it comes right down to it, Duceppe has more credibility in Quebec than Stevie Spiteful ever will.

So no, I, for one, don’t want the tax payers funding a new arena in Quebec City. I just wished that many of my fellow Quebecers felt the same way and had bigger fish to fry like health care and education, rather than to worry about arenas for non-existant teams.   There is no precedent for this as pointed out earlier. Sports stadiums and hockey arenas are privately funded solely.  Peladeau wants an NHL franchise so badly, let him build the arena on his own dime.  We hear governments at all levels saying we must cut back; there’s no money for health care and education and other programs and such, then it stands to reason, there is no money for white elephants.

Wouldn’t it be a kick in the pants if after the all 3 levels of gov’t committed the funding for this arena, and it got built, only for Bettman to say “no” to Quebec City, either because the arena took too long to build (like most of our infrastructure projects as mentioned above) or whatever other reason.  A further outrage to the tax payers, but oh the irony!

Pierre-Karl Peladeau and Gilles Duceppe, as well as the mayor of Quebec City, Regis Lebeaume, all have one common goal; to bring an NHL franchise back to Quebec City. In order to accomplish this, NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman has made clear to Lebeaume that a new arena is essential before he can even consider a new team for Quebec City, a deal needs to be in the works for the construction of a new arena. La Colisee is old and falling apart; same problem that existed when the Nordiques left in 1995 for Colorado.   They all want and need federal dollars to build this new arena. Furthermore, they argue that this new arena would help them in yet another bid for the winter Olympic games in 2022. Yeesh! When will they ever learn?  Sweater vest Steve has not committed either way to this project.

Last night, I read an interesting column from Norman Spector. Now, normally, he writes insipid drivel, but this one offers an interesting theory as to why Pierre Karl Peladeau is so gung-ho about getting his Fox News North out on the airwaves in spite of the fact many critics wonder if such a conservative outfit can even get the sponsors and even make money. Spector, basically, seems to think that Peladeau’s 24 hour Harpercon brown nosing channel will get the federal dollars to pay for this arena.  Furthermore, He gives a precedent where this kind of journalistic brown nosing helped Asper.

What’s been missing from the discussion of an additional all-news network in Canada is the quid pro quo: what does Pierre Karl Péladeau get out of this? Surely, this is not just about getting the right to introduce another cable network in Canada, which, even if it succeeds – a big if – will not make megabucks. And, while everyone would like to have the influence that comes from having your own media horn to toot – which, in Mr. Péladeau’s case, includes tooting back at Paul Desmarais and his family – there must be something more to it.

There is.

For the Asper family, ownership of the Conservative-friendly National Post was the ticket to government funding for a human-rights museum in Winnipeg. (Who knows what other funding would have flowed had Izzy lived longer?) Mr. Péladeau’s personal priority is pedestrian: the return of hockey to Quebec City. The price of his support for the Conservatives is a new arena in that city, which is the NHL’s price of admission for the franchise Mr. Péladeau would like to own and converge with his media properties.

Ok, fine, it’s also not the first time we’ve heard Junior expressing interest in bring hockey back to Quebec City, as well as Gilles Duceppe and the Mayor Regis Lebeaume. I’m sure many fans want the same thing. However, is this all simply a romantic notion and very little to do with business smarts? Let’s take a trip down memory lane and get a reminder as to why the Nordiques ended leaving for Colorado in the first place, shall we?

For the 1994–95 season, Marc Crawford was hired as the new head coach, and Forsberg was deemed ready to finally join the team, but first there was the problem of a lockout. In the shortened season of 48 games, the Nordiques played well and finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference. However, the team faltered in the post season and was eliminated in the first round by the defending Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers.

The playoff loss proved to be the Nordiques’ swan song in the NHL as the team’s financial troubles increasingly took centre stage, even in the face of renewed fan support over the previous three years. The league’s Canadian teams (with the exception of Montreal, Toronto, and to a lesser extent, Vancouver) found it difficult to compete in a new age of rising player salaries, which was made even more difficult by a weakening Canadian dollar (the Canadian teams’ revenues are earned in Canadian dollars, but player salaries are paid in US dollars). Quebec City was also by far the smallest market in the league, and the second-smallest market in North America to support a major-league team (behind only Green Bay, Wisconsin). Additionally, Quebec City is a virtually monolingual francophone city. Unlike in Montreal, nearly all public address announcements were only given in French. Then as now, there were no privately-owned English-language radio stations, and only one privately-owned English language television station. The only English-language newspaper was a weekly. These factors severely limited the Nordiques’ marketability in the anglophone market even in their best years. While the Nordiques had a fairly loyal fan base, it was not enough for them to be viable in the new environment.

Aubut asked for a bailout from Quebec’s provincial government, but the request was turned down, as few were willing to be seen as subsidizing a hockey club that paid multi million-dollar salaries. In May 1995, shortly after the Nordiques were eliminated from the playoffs, Aubut explained that he had no other choice but to sell the team to a group of investors in Denver, Colorado.

Well, don’t most of these issues mentioned above, still exist today?  New arena or La Colisee?  Public relations specialist and former aid to Marcel Aubut, Luc Ouellet believes the market in Quebec City is just too small for an NHL team in Quebec City and that folks just won’t pay 100$ for the admissions.

So, to get this straight, Peladeau is insistent on having a Fox News North which would be a 24/7 infomercial for the Harpercons which many believe will not get the subscribers, nor the sponsors necessary to be profitable just so he can get the federal government to cough up the dough needed to build a new arena so he can have a new NHL team in Quebec City, which would also more than likely, not make money?  More evidence that perhaps Junior is not the savvy businessman many would lead us to believe he is. And he really isn’t, you know.

Junior did have to declare bankruptcy in his first year of business with the old man’s premier asset, the printing company, Quebecor World. Ok, fine, the printing industry is dying due to the changing technology toward an electronic world.  However, was running that printing empire into the ground deliberate on his part? When I was in training in estimation and management for the printing industry, my estimation instructor knew old man Peladeau quite well, or so he told us.  The instructor,  much like the Peladeaus, was an anti-union, anti-labor law, Mario Dumont cheerleader wingnut who spoke fondly of the old man, but never had much use for Junior.  Every so often in class, he would express disappointment at how Junior for his mishandling of Quebecor World.

Also, Fagstein briefly goes over some of Junior’s business failings in his posting from May 14, 2009.  Click the link, it’s worth the read.

Is this a case of simply a spoiled brat wanting his toys at any cost?  That seems to make the most sense to me.

And what a hypocrite he is!  Forget that he wants every cable and satellite subscriber to pay for his Fox News; not very conservative or libertarian of him. Never mind that obviously typical Conservative hypocrisy of demanding tax payers to fork over millions of dollars to build something as frivolous as an arena (I mean, really, Junior, didn’t Daddy teach you the free markets were supposed to take care of that?).  But how about that failed bid to buy the Montreal Canadiens in 2009? That anti-union boss who has kept Journal de Montreal writers locked out and by-passed Quebec’s anti-scab laws to keep the paper going, was being supported by none other than the Fonds de Solidarite of the FTQ - FTQ  one of Quebec’s biggest labour unions! Needless to say, that bid didn’t go over well with many factions. No matter, the Molson brothers entered the bidding war late and won.

This leads me to my next question. Had Peladeau’s bid for the Habs been successful, would he even be interested in purchasing some financially insolvent NHL team from the southern United States to bring to Quebec City? Would he be pushing so hard to put his televised blogging supposiTories on the airwaves?

And for another angle, what if the Liberals were in power? In an elaborate effort to suck up for federal dollars for his arena, would Junior be pushing a channel that was Liberal-friendly?

But there is another player. Gilles Duceppe also wants an NHL team back in Quebec City and is also pressuring the Harpercons to fork over federal dough to build this arena. But for him, the motivations are more tranparent than those of Junior Peladeau. It’s all about Quebec Nationalist Pride.  One must question, how badly does he want this? How does this serve him? The NattyPo’s Kelly McParland seems to think that Gilles Duceppe wins whether master Steve forks over the dough for this arena or not.

The guy can’t lose. He gets to march around his home province, the only one he cares about, railing about how Quebec gets shafted because it doesn’t have an arena in the National Capital (that being Quebec City) because the filthy federalists are too busy spending their simulus money (argent stimulusse) in parts of the country where they speak some foreign language like English. Everyone listening to Radio-Canada nods and agrees: “That’s right! If we were independent, we’d have a great big arena in Quebec and our team would only speak French and we’d win the Stanley Cup eight times out of 10, because when you’re independent, you win the Stanley Cup.”)

That’s good for Duceppe. It’s also good for Duceppe if Harper says no, pointing out, for instance, that Edmonton would also like a new arena but is doing its best to find a way to pay for it without begging Ottawa to play sugar daddy. And when Winnipeg decided it needed a new arena in hopes it might lure the NHL back to town, it just went ahead and built one.

For a conservative non-Quebecer, McParland seems to get the workings of a separatist mind some of the time. It’s true that they think that if we were independent, our hockey teams would not only be solvent, but win every Stanley Cup. Hell, didn’t the separatists use the performances of Quebec athletes at the Vancouver Olympics as another argument for sovereignty? They even managed to turn the Harpercons’ promoting of federal parks to eighth graders into a federalist plot.

Yes, for Duceppe it is win-win.  I think that Steve will agree to footing the bulk of the 400 million dollar bill, courtesy of the beleaguered tax payers, yet again as pork barreling is what Master Steve does best. Most of his Quebec seats are in and around the Quebec City area. As McParland points out, Duceppe can take full credit and make new friends. I might also add that if Steve says no to the project, that honestly, I hope he does (Sorry Hockey fans, the Nordiques weren’t solvent before; the market wasn’t there before; I don’t see anything that has changed that. We’re in a recession. I can think of better ways for the tax payers to spend 400 million dollars. If Peladeau wants that arena bad enough, then he should get a consortium together and bankroll it himself, like a good con should),  Duceppe still wins. He has more ammunition to fuel his sovereignty cause and, dare I say it, perhaps even be able to unseat some of those Harpercon  Greater Quebec City area seats in the next federal election?

But is it that simple? If Stevie Spiteful oks this pork barreling, which I’m sure he will, what will it cost Duceppe?  In spite of the fact that this funding would pretty much ensure that he keeps his Quebec City seats, he would surely demand something of Duceppe. Would Duceppe prop up the Harpercons’ poison pills until the spring when the predicted date of a federal election would take place?  If an election were held sooner rather than later? What if the Liberals won?  Would Iggy,  agree to spending 400 million dollars on an arena in Quebec City? Whether or not the Liberals would go for that would depend largely in part whether or not the NDP would support it or not. I’m not so sure that they would.  We can pretty much guess that a Liberal government would let the chips fall where they may with the CRTC regarding whether or not Fox News North comes to light or not.

As I’ve mentioned above, I hope that tax-payers are not left footing the bill for this arena. Bidding for the winter olympics is a bad idea.  We only finished paying off the Montreal summer games a few years ago.  Our stadium still continues to be a safety hazard and many (myself included)  are now advocating for blowing the damned thing up.

The good citizens of Vancouver will have many years to pay off their six billion dollar winter olympic boondoggle and they can’t seem to sell off their Olympic Village condos in an attempt to recoup some of their losses.  Not to mention, Vancouver’s most vulnerable ended up suffering the most.

Why do we want this?

Sidenote: I wonder if any of the new Quebec Tea-baggers; the Reseau Liberte Quebecois will question Kory at their inaugural luncheon in Quebec City the true Libertarian-ness/conservativeness of his boss demanding the tax payers foot the bill for this frivolous arena? Or better still, will one of them have the balls to throw Junior’s former partnership with the Fonds de Solidarite de FTQ when they were bidding for the Habs in his face?

Gilles Duceppe has been throwing a monkey wrench into the overpriced G8/G20 festivities by sending letters to world leaders promoting Quebec sovereignty.

“As I am sure you are aware, Quebec is a nation in its own right,” Duceppe wrote in the English version of the letter, dated June 9, 2010. “There is a strong political movement to make Quebec a sovereign country, free to levy its own taxes, make all of its own laws and conduct its own international relations. This desire for freedom, which pushes millions of Quebecers toward independence, is a strong political force.”

Well, it is true that most Quebecers do believe that Quebec is already a de facto nation. That would be one reason no one  has spoken of referendum up until Lucien Bouchard threw the gauntlet last February. He had even gone in so far as to say that Pauline Marois doesn’t even want to hold a referendum.  While Gilles Duceppe was planning to make waves to commemorate the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord and travelling to promote sovereignty, we didn’t really speak of it and the media wasn’t covering it as much as they are today.

However, what about Pauline Marois who has said in the past that she didn’t want to do a referendum  in the PQ’s first mandate. Blogger Pierre Luc is wondering if Pauline Marois is now lying. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time a politician lies, so I can get the young blogger’s cynical question. She also hinted at trying to force an election as early as this Fall, given Charest’s growing unpopularity and his shrinking majority.  However, I also ventured to say that she is in more of a hurry to do this because her party could well be attempting to turf her out in favour of a leader who would be more popular.  She is, after all, polling lower approval numbers than her own party. She could be lying but I don’t think that is the main reason for  Gilles Duceppe’s growing actions.

I’m more inclined to agree with another Quebec blogger, Lawrence Griffin,  who is suggesting that Duceppe is simply undermining Pauline Marois in an effort to unseat her so he can lead the Parti Quebecois. True, she isn’t promoting sovereignty outside of Quebec the way he is and while she huffs and puffs for Quebec media, Duceppe seems to be doing all the heavy lifting.

We also have to remember that after the disastrous third place finish where Charest’s Liberals won a minority, then PQ leader, Andre Boisclair resigned. The party did ask Marois to come back to bring the party back up. There had also been talk of Duceppe wanting to take the reigns but insiders had decided that Duceppe’s role would better serve Quebec interests in Ottawa.  At the time,  it was the best decision for Quebec.  However has the idea of leading the PQ always been in the back of Duceppe’s mind? Personally, if I were to live in a sovereign Quebec, I would prefer Duceppe to lead it  over  Marois.

But then, there is another problem; even if and when  the PQ does somehow rid itself of Pauline Marois (she too has her own skeletons), it wouldn’t necessarily mean that Duceppe would be the leader.  There are two rising ‘stars’ inside the PQ who could potentially lead and win an election anytime over the Liberals, with or without the scandals Charest seems to be living with these days. These ‘stars’ are Pierre Curzi and  Bernard Drainville.

While I’m inclined to believe Griffin’s theory, I also think there may be another reason. Duceppe might well be attempting to separate himself from any of that coalition chatter.  Steve and his attack ads for the upcoming election will no doubt attempt to convincingly include the ‘separatists’ in some kind of coalition with Liberals/NDP. If Duceppe keeps making noise about Quebec sovereignty, it wouldn’t lend credibility to that whole separatists joining any coalitions this time around.  As I’ve mentioned before, entering into a coalition with federalist parties does take away his credibility and would be counterproductive.

To that end, Duceppe is simply better off leading his party on a case by case basis as he has always done.

As for Pauline Marois,  she will no doubt be circling Charest’s Liberals over the summer, waiting to see if there will be other resignations or firings to come, thus, perhaps, sending the  Quebec Liberals to a minority situation as  she needs to have an election sooner rather than later, before the perfect storm arises for her own party to oust her; before the Liberal party could reverse its’ fortunes (not likely any time soon, but if Charest did decide to resign over the summer…and a new, effective leader were put into place, well, never can tell…).  As things stand right now, Charest still has a majority in the National Assembly and even if Marois were to be propped up by the Quebec Solidaire MNA, whatever is left of the now decimated ADQ and the independents, she doesn’t have the numbers to trigger a fall election.

Sidenote: Jennifer Crane, a Liberal strategist who participates in Tommy Schnurmacher’s Friday political panel asked a good question to the Conservative pundit; why is it ok for the Harpercons to be propped up but never the NDP or the Liberals. He didn’t really come up with a good answer for that. And yes, the BQ have on a number of occasions propped up the Harpercons as well as having been in that famous coalition/cooperation letter Steve wrote to then GG Adrienne Clarkson.

Here a coalition, there a coalition, everywhere a coalition. Whatever.  This talk isn’t going to let up. Everyone is going to have their theories. I’ve read my share of them. Many offering nothing original from the the only way is to merge the left as the right ot no it would be suicide. Both Progressive Bloggers and the Blogging SupposiTories are rushing to put in their two cents each with different motivations naturally.

In the Blogging SupposiTory camp, you have those who welcome an NDP — Bob Rae Liberal coalition as they believe it all but assures Steve’s majority and I’m not sure those wingnuts would be wrong. Others, naturally, like their master Steve are quite paranoid of the idea.

All would seem to ask if it would or should include the Bloc. Lots of speculation regarding the Bloc. Even on Question Period this morning, there was talk that an NDP / Liberal coalition cannot be done mathematically without the Bloc Quebecois, however, include them and Steve is that much closer to his majority.

Any coalition agreement should not include the Bloc Quebecois. Furthermore, I don’t think Gilles Duceppe is interested in going to bed with the Liberals and/or the NDP anymore.  The following obvious reasons for that would be:

1) We saw how violently much of Canada outside of Quebec reacted to them even being there. A mistake to not be repeated.

2) Unlike Fall 2008, the sovereignty movement is back on the front burner and this momentum is likely to continue.  Duceppe has decided to be more hands on, as he should. Quite Frankly, Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois has little credibility to lead this movement.

For Duceppe to  actually take part in any coalition with federalist parties in any shape or form would be counter productive toward that sovereignty referendum goal.

Surely he must realize that taking the time to enter into some kind of agreement with any coalition would greatly take away any sovereignty momentum he is building up. If he actually did entertain such a thought, he would surely lose credibility amongst his separatist followers.

If Duceppe  really is on the sovereignty bandwagon at full throttle, then perhaps he should come out and say that he has no plans to enter into any coalition agreement  this time around. The question is  unless he sees that such a statement would benefit Quebecers and the sovereignty cause greatly, he has no reason to do it. It would be the right thing for him to do, but he won’t.

That is and always was Gilles Duceppe’s modus operendi:  voting along with bills and motions that he sees can benefit Quebec; nothing more; nothing less.  As such, Duceppe works on a case by case basis.

The non participation of Duceppe in any coalition can also spell trouble at any time for anytime for them.   All Steve has to do is dangle a lot of Quebecois carrots in front of Gilles Duceppe’s nose to keep him voting with him and against the coalition. Granted, that pandering to Quebec would turn Steve’s stomach and no doubt that of his cheerleaders and fans as well, but he would do it if it squashed his biggest fear and kept him in power. It’s also a reason why the 2008 proposed coalition wouldn’t have worked a long time.

Perhaps the Liberals should say something to put the question of  will Duceppe or won’t he be part of any coalition to rest once and for all. Given how violently Canadians reacted in 2008, as well as Steve’s attack ads, I would say that the best move would be to come out and say under no circumstances, Duceppe and the Bloc will be a part of this. They can even use the reason we all know, that Duceppe is too busy actively promoting sovereignty and that the coalition stands for a more unified Canada; that an agreement with the Bloc would directly contradict that.

Any coalition will be a hard enough sell to Joe and Jane Centrist from rural Ontario or somewhere out west; it would be an impossibility with the Bloc in tow.

It seems that a new Facebook group created by Harpercon blogger, Derek Fildebrandt no less, is once again getting Canadians together from all political stripes, it would seem, for now, anyway.  We all want to see the MPs expenses made public and as well they should be made public. After hearing about how Porky Puffy Duffy spent more of taxpayers’ dollars in less than 3 months than most earn inside a year, working at real jobs, I for one want to know how they’re spending the public purse. It’s a given that there would be many, oh so many frivolities, I think many Canadians are prepared for this.  Paul Szabo, the Liberal Fetus fetishist comes out with the feeble excuse that  there are too many law suits against MPs , thus the public should not be allowed to see them.

“If they were opened to the auditor general and open to the public, all of a sudden people would jump to conclusions without having all the facts,” Szabo said.

“If you identify the member, or the law firm or all this other stuff, all of a sudden people could say … what’s wrong with this member, this member is getting sued all the time,” he said.

Oh boy! Between his fetus festivities and now protecting MPs from Inquiring minds wanting to know about law suits, I think it’s high time for the Liberals to cut him loose. Too bad they can not afford to lose seats at this time. Got a newsflash for ya Paul, we kinda figured there were lawsuits and to us, many MPs reputations are already tarnished, including your’s for showing up at that bloody fetus festival last Thursday.

So, once again, Facebook is bringing Canadians from the left, center, right and far right all together in a common goal; to somehow get MPs to make their expenses public. Facebook users, click here to join.  Great, I hope to see at least as many, if not, more than Christopher White’s old Canadians Against Parliament group.  Needless to say, some action must be planned and agreed upon. Perhaps like CAPP, a cross country effort.  If I can offer one piece of advice from an error to be learned from the CAPP rallies last January, let’s not brand this effort as non-partisan; the media and pundits see right through that.  Let’s call it a by partisan or multi-partisan effort.

Someone by the name of Ed Gallois made this interesting comment on the group’s wall. I hope that’s not the only way to get MPs to loosen up on this.

In Britain, all of last year’s news was dominated by UK politicians claiming for ridiculous expenses – moats, porn, second homes within 10 miles of their constituency home, you name it, they did it – all at the British taxpayers’ expense. Our politicians at every step blocked the details coming out. It was only because… the Daily Telegraph surreptiously bought the database of MPs’ expenses that any of it ever came to light. I would suggest someone – or some body – in Canada tries to do the same because the MPs will never release the info. They are not going to commit political suicide willingly, after all. Cheers.

The problem with that is what is the likelihood someone or some company with enough civic mindedness and cash would make such a purchase?

How long will we remain all together on this. Given that Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc are not part of this secretive bunch, he will surely add this to the Quebec Sovereignty arsenal, saying that a Sovereign Quebec’s government will be open and transparent or something along those lines.

I also worry about further voter  apathy on this one as it could further Steve’s agenda for  his totalitarian regime as we would let him get away with it from inaction or any other government with goals just as insidious.

I’m curious as to how the  corporate media which is mostly right slanted handles this issue as time goes along. I’m curious as to how this will affect polls for all three parties since they’re equally guilty of this very same crime.

Go, Gilles Go!

Duceppe blasted the Conservative Government for the “ideological decision” to fund “religious groups that believe in the imminent return of the Messiah and translate the Bible into African and Asian dialects.”

In a follow-up comment Duceppe went further, saying sarcastically, “Will it really help women to send preachers … to Africa or to have the Bible translated. What a huge help and so essential.”

This straight from that delightful little web site, Lifeshit News.

Rona Ambrose, then tries to stand up to Gilles Duceppe  by completely avoiding his questions and as usual, showing that she has more hair than brains.

It’s amusing watching Harpercon women really stick their foot in it for the oh so Dreamy Master Steve.  I realize I’m about to have a trashy Hunter moment here, but I do wonder if these Harpercon women like Mullethead Hoeppner and Bev Odious cream their panties when massah Steve is in the room?? I bet they do. Ok, not a good visual if you’ve just finished supper.

It appears that  Harpercon MP Diane Ablonczy really and truly is either delusional about Master Steve promoting her again, or she has a massive crush on him; here she comes swinging in a futile attempt to redeem herself to the great Master Steve. Apparently, she takes issue with Gilles Duceppe’s sarcasm, as she sees her Stepford sisters unable to logically refute the Bloc leader.

Yes,  to paraphrase Antonia Z from her article yesterday,  The timing of  the release of Marci McDonald’s new book, The Armageddon Factor, is nothing short of divine.

“was what I consider to be an intolerant attack on Canadians who hold beliefs that are contrary to his own.”  Ablonczy added, “In my view, the remarks that he made were bigoted and divisive. This kind of rhetoric, in my view, is completely unacceptable in our pluralistic society. “

Wow! Very good! Taken a cue from the master: shifting your own guilt onto your adversary. It’s your government that’s trying to remove pluralism by turning Canada into an evangelical state to prepare for the end times.  Divisiveness is what your master does. No matter what you say or do, Diane, Steve will never forgive you for funding the Gay Pride Parade last year.

Can someone explain to me how the bible being translated into African and Asian dialects is supposed to help a poor weak and tired woman feeling nothing but despair, wondering how she’ll feed her kids today?  Or how does sending preachers to explain how end times are a comin’ to women whose time has come now or that of her child’s due to starvation and lack of proper health care? And a question that I share with ACR’s Pale Cold:  How comforting can a preacher who has translated the Lord’s Prayer be to a woman who is dying from complications to giving birth to 13 kids in a 10 year span?

I find it rich that an MP from probably the most intolerant party in Canada preaching tolerance to Gilles Duceppe, or any other opposition party for that matter.

Read Marci McDonald’s new book, before Harpercons censor it and/or start American bible belt inspired book burnings; and then stand up and fight, before  a Harpercon theocratic totalitarian regime takes over, because intolerance is going to have whole new meaning.   Talks about censorship? Practically the only top 40 song that would be allowed on Harpercon radio will be  Paul Anka & Odious Coates’ “Having my Baby”, Nickelback  and Christian Evangelical music.

For those who want to send encouragement and/or Kudos to

Gilles Duceppe: Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca

Anyone want to send jeers to Master Steve?  No problem!   pm@pm.gc.ca

After reading a  post from Cathie in Canada, where she was recently polled over the phone by Harris-Decima about whether or not she would support opposition MPs signing an oath of confidentiality, which, while underhanded, may or may not fall under Milliken’s rule, depending how you view that (remember, he did provide a way out for Steve that many seem to overlook; that while Steve must produce the documents to opposition, he also said that it must not infringe upon ‘national security’; as usual, that is always subject to interpretation). She was also asked specifically, since it is believed the Bloc Quebecois should not sign a confidentiality oath, thus should not even view the documents. As Cathie pointed out, that question certainly did smack of  pitting ‘disloyal’ Canadians against ‘Loyal Canadians’. Yes, perhaps it does.  The rest of Canada, particularly the west already have growing hostilities (more from the right, and center, but I also expect some western progressives as well) toward Quebec. Albertans are of the mistaken belief that they and they alone are supporting our social programs; hell, even Beauceron  Ex-Lax Max is touting that talking point (QC Liberal finance minister, Raymond Bachand had him for lunch, but…again, truth and facts aren’t always as important as the kool-aid being served).  Many would like to see bilingualism gone, let alone multi-culturalism.

Cathie, as well as Pogge, have both observed that Harris -Decima, with not only the questions they asked Cathie themselves, but also the way these questions were worded, that someone better question Allan Gregg about his partisanship for the Harpercons. In addition, someone should ask who commissioned this particular poll.  Of course, we know that will never happen.  But, I think most of us know, even those on the right would be ga-ga-giddy over that, and as usual, they would spin it in their favour to Canadians as to why it is ok for Allan Gregg to be involved with partisan polling, but not Frank Graves, or something along those lines. That would remain to be seen.

Logically, as Jack Layton pointed out so astutely to Craig Oliver on Question Period yesterday, of course the Bloc should have the opportunity to see those documents as they were voted into parliament by tens of thousands of Quebecers to represent their interests in Ottawa.  As long as we’re still in Canada, we are paying federal taxes, same as everybody else. But, these are far from ordinary times.

Yes, this would be a classic Brother Steve game move, for not only his game of Divide and Conquer, but also, perhaps, to further alienate Quebec from the ROC? This brings me to my next question: what if this went beyond Steve’s wedgie games?

We know that Duceppe is actively travelling all over creation to promote Quebec Sovereignty. He had pointed out recently how a sovereign Quebec would be actually better for the ROC, which led many pundits, bloggers and other observers to wonder if Duceppe was deliberately trying to get Quebec thrown out of Canada rather than have another provincial referendum. Frankly, this strategy wouldn’t be so off the wall. It would certainly further stir up anger in French Quebecers who may be considered ‘soft’ nationalists or still on the fence over sovereignty. It would certainly get almost all of Quebec more enthused over sovereignty. So, would Brother Steve be planning on booting out Quebec from Canada? How hard could that be, given we never signed the constitution.  If that is indeed Steve’s plan, then it would make sense for him to not even want Gilles Duceppe signed on to some confidentiality oath if Quebec becomes sovereign, one way or another.

With potential sovereignty in mind,  perhaps Steve would be afraid that perhaps a confidentiality oath would only be valid as long as Quebec was still in Canada; that if Quebec separated, would all bets be off and he started singing about them? Or,  would  he find some anonymous schmuck to leak at least some of what would be revealed to him to separatist media in  and around Montreal long before any move on sovereignty would be made to further promote the cause?  Not to mention, more than likely,  that would be one of the fastest ways of getting the detainee issues to the international community where Steve is terrified of having this played out.

For Steve, it is obvious to me that yes, he is playing his favourite game of divide and conquer; no question.  If he were truly afraid of the above scenarios, all he would have to do is have the confidentiality oath extend to a potential sovereign Quebec, even though, I think it would be a safe bet that Duceppe would probably never agree to such a stipulation.

So, Steve’s ongoing culture wars or concerns for a potential  sovereign Quebec?

Oh that load of misdeeds from Steve.

Now, Blogging Romper Roomie Frmgrl is now peeing  in her panties from being ga ga giddy, and Norman Spector is as happy as a con who ran over a dog or cat in the poor neighbourhood no doubt over the latest news. Steve wants to add 30 more seats to parliament: 18 in Ontario (who wants to bet none of them are in the 416 area code?), 5 for Alberta (anyone surprised here?) and 7 in BC (also no doubt in con ridings). None, of course, for Quebec and any other province. Gee, anyone wonder why?

I guess that’s why we hadn’t heard a peep out of Gilles Duceppe regarding the new Charest-Bachand budget and the hijacking of our health care system. He was busy protesting this latest Harpercon stunt at Question Period.

Bob Rae and Jack Layton are with this in theory, but they say they must further examine how the electoral map be drawn, as well as other details.

“We’ll have to look at the details of how the seats are allocated. I’m sure there’s some issues that will be raised by some parts of the country, but generally speaking it seems to me that’s an inevitable direction of public policy,” said Rae.

Layton said the government has not consulted with the provinces and recommended the bill be sent to a committee for study “to grapple with some of these complicated issues and work them through and find a solution.”

Why would Layton and Rae even entertain this idea? Everyone knows the Harpercons will draw all those lines on the new electoral map to suit them and only them. They’re willing to sign on to that?

The Uncle Tom of  French Quebec, Christian Paradis,  decided to really get offensive: suggested that if Quebecers wanted to have more MPs, they could make more babies or increase immigration. Ah, it must be nice working to sell out your own province and people, ain’t it Chris??

Well, I think we just got our answer, eh Gilles?  Harpercons really don’t want us in Canada anymore than Gilles wants us to stay.  This little Harpercon stunt is sure to add another case to the list for Quebec sovereignty. Although, it would also seem that Jack Layton is open to offering more seats to Quebec.

Well, now we know Albertan Miss Holstein cow, Frmgrl is all ga ga giddy, probably as sexually stimulated as the day she lost her virginity.

Wow, if Canadians are that much more conservative and if the opposition is really that weak; between revisiting the scrapping of that per vote subsidy and this gerrymandering, why must Steve feel the need to cheat?  Doesn’t that go against your innocent frmgrl values, little girl?

Another thing, little frmgrl, I thought you cons were all about smaller government and less spending. This move is estimated to cost 25 million clams and 30 more MPs with gold plated pensions and 6 figure salaries.  Isn’t that supposed to send you cons shrieking at the moon?

I guess not. Once again, I point out the hypocrisy of the Harpercon cheerleaders as I always do. Frmgrl, a little tip if you ever get to the big city of say, Calgary, get a little help from Depends.

It would seem that since yesterday,  Gilles Duceppe referring to those involved with the  Quebec Sovereignty movement as ‘Resistants’, thus supposedly comparing themselves to the French Freedom Fighters in WWII, is splashed all over the news;  it seems to be coming a close second after health care reform passed last night.

Even hacks like Norman Spector and Jane Taber are weighing in trying to stay relevent.

Me thinks the Harpercons are getting a tad paranoid:

“Gilles Duceppe shows once again that he is always trying to create squabble and division, only to justify his obsession to hold a referendum on sovereignty in Quebec, as soon as possible,” according to the internal missive to MPs and supporters early this morning.

“It seems that Gilles Duceppe has forgotten that Canadians, including Quebeckers, bravely fought Nazism during World War II.”

Oh get a grip already! You’re only figuring out now that Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois’s main raison d’etre is Quebec Sovereignty? With that fool Pauline Marois as leader of the P.Q.  flying pretty much solo up until Lucien Bouchard’s  controversial remarks last February, she is going to need all the help she can get these days.  Just what did everyone think would happen after Bouchard dropped the gauntlet last month? That the Bloc and The P.Q. weren’t going to do anything? If theysimply rolled over and brushed off Bouchard’s comments, they would have lost their raison d’etre amongst Quebecers for sure.

“Squabble and Divisiveness”?  Really? He’s attempting to unite Quebecers. As for squabble and divisiveness that you refer to; well, where’s the problem? Afraid that perhaps Gilles might play it better than Steve? Oh, like Steve never made any anti-Quebec statements in his career.

This is classic Steve calling the kettle black here; not only because  of his games of divide and conquer against the opposition parties and with Canadians in general, but,  what many seem to forget is that ol’ Stevie himself attempted to engineer the break-up of Canada.  I seem to remember a letter written by Stevie to Ralph Klein in 2001, all about creating a firewall around Alberta. I suggest you click on the link and read this firewall letter to remind us of how much Stevie loves Canada to remain all together in love and singin’ “Coombaya”.

In addition to that firewall letter, I have heard many an Albertan conservative musing about themselves pulling out of Canada as they feel the rest of Canada (mainly Quebec) are thieves. Wonder why that never makes the headlines of  so-called mainstream media? Oh yeah! It’s Harpercon media.  Wonder why Stevie never condemns them for their misanthropic behavior?

Oh and Stevie, Soudas and the rest of the Harpercons: I want to thank you for  succeeding, yet again, in alienating Quebecers. Remember Stevie, it ain’t just separatists who endorse and vote for the Bloc.

Yeah, I know the Liberals have come out and denounced Duceppe’s latest rhetoric  as well.  Although, they appear to be either much more subdued about it or the Harpercon media has just overlooked them this time around.  Liberal MP Marlene Jennings even went in so far as to call it ‘a good laugh’ as did  another Montreal Liberal MP, Marc Garneau,

As for Duceppe, well, he does have a point:

I first caught hint of this in, oddly enough, the Edmonton Journal, a paper from a highly conservative province that has not only never made any secret about wanting Quebec out of Canada, but a lot of the most conservative Albertans would love to separate from Canada themselves as they seem to think Alberta and Alberta alone supports the rest of Canada.

Quebec Sovereignty coming back: wishful thinking on their (Edmonton Journal) part? Or is it being revived slowly for real?

Up until now, the movement had been all but dead for the last few years with the exception of a few rantings from Pauline Marois. However, I never believed too many people: sovereignists (separatist) & federalists alike took her seriously nor would they consider her as Premier, or worse yet, President (I”m thinking pretty good guess a sovereign Quebec would adapt a republican style of government given general Quebecois disdain for the royal family). In my opinion, she only served one purpose and that was to raise the Parti Quebecois from the dead following the disasterous performance of Andre Boisclair.

Oddly enough, if we want to talk about reviving Quebec sovereignty, I think more Quebecers look to Gilles Duceppe than to Marois.

Gilles Duceppe’s last Federal election campaign had nothing to with sovereignty; wasn’t on his campaign platform.  He basically campaigned on that he was the best choice to keep Stevie and his neo-con ways out of Quebec as much as possible. Jean Charest, our federalist premier and a former federal Tory himself campaigned for the Bloc Quebecois. A lot of my English speaking friends and co-workers even voted for the Bloc Quebecois knowing full well that they were a sovereignist party but having a distaste for the Liberals’ bad choices for leaders since Paul Martin and for Stevie, a sovereignist party seemed more palpable.

The twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Meech Lake Accord happens this coming June and  guess where  Gilles Duceppe has been  recently?  Pitching sovereignty at University of Ottawa. Sounds like an odd place to promote sovereignty to me. Hell, even Concordia or McGill would have made more sense as venues for that. Be that as it may, Duceppe spoke of Meech and launched into a speech before the students.

” it is clear that in Canada there is no political will to respond to Quebec’s aspirations.”

Of course, it didn’t take all that long for Marois to jump on Duceppe’s bandwagon.  She says that a sovereign Quebec would be more green than if it remains with Canada.

“Quebec is a leader (on environmental issues) … and Canada, for its part, is dragging us down.”

I wouldn’t argue that it isn’t Quebec’s intent to be green and to set targets.  However, can this be done only in a sovereign Quebec? That is just one question.

“Since 1990, Quebec has made considerable efforts to attack greenhouse gas emissions, and suddenly they (in Ottawa) change the reference year for calculating those reductions. Who do you think will pay for this? Quebec’s citizens, companies and workers,” Marois said.

“If we were independent tomorrow, we could speak with our own voice. We would not have been feuding in Copenhagen. We could have signed the Kyoto agreement ourselves.

“This is the demonstration that federalism does not suit the Quebec reality. Whether we have governments that are in one case federalist and the other sovereignist, we always come to the same conclusion: This federalism is impossible to reform, and the real solution for Quebec is sovereignty.”

She made these remarks the day after Charest accused Prentice of spreading falsehoods about Quebec’s new restrictions on vehicle emissions. Basically, Jim Prentice ridiculed Charest.

The environment is but one issue Marois is using to promote sovereignty. Quebec is still not in the Canadian Constitution to this day and not likely to become a part of it anytime soon.

The Bloc and P.Q. both plan to springboard activities toward the commemoration of the death anniversary of Meech Lake leading toward a renewed push for sovereignty, but not before one more set of negotitiations for more powers over such things as culture, language,  and environment and if those demands are not met, Alexandre Cloutier, PQ critic of intergovernmental affairs seems to think that it will make it easier to get support for outright independence, It gives me the idea of an ultimatum to be served up to Ottawa: give us the autonomy we’re asking  or we’re gone. I think we can all guess how that will turn out.

Right now, CROP and Leger Marketing polls indicate a tie between Charest and Marois with Charest’s numbers going down, largely in part because he is refusing to hold a public inquiry into allegations of corruption and price-rigging in the rewarding of public construction contracts. His numbers can continue to go down, however, given he won a majority in the last provincial election in 2008, Charest is not expected to call an election anytime soon, might not even happen for a few years yet, unless, of course, he is forced to resign, but in absence of anyone suitable to take over the Quebec Liberal party, that is not likely to happen for the time being.

However, if Quebec sovereignty is the ultimate goal and that is the will of Quebecers, it’s a good idea to start talking about it now. Perhaps even answer serious questions. I have the feeling that the ‘yes’ side (PQ, Bloc and other sovereignists) can’t even agree on how to achieve this.For starters, in spite of the fact the A.D.Q. is all but dead, sovereignists, including those in the Parti-Quebecois themselves are clearly divided right/left: the left being mainly out of Montreal and the right being pretty much everywhere else, including Quebec City. How else did Harpercons win as many seats as they did in the province of Quebec? I would hazzard a guess that those voters are not necessarily federalist but they do support that right wing agenda. These folks are socially conservative for the most part.

Michel Bolduc, the blogger of Chronicles of a Pure Laine seems to believe that sovereignty can be achieved peacefully.  As someone who has travelled extensively across Quebec and having lived in both rural towns and in Montreal, I would have to disagree. But not due to English/French war or the division of east/west Montreal or anything like that. The problem would be a Montreal v the rest of Quebec (particularly rural Quebec). I remembered living in Lac Megantic with my ex-husband for a few years: his family as well as a lot of the inhabitants didn’t like me.  Not because I was English speaking; my French was just fine for them, in fact, they never thought I was Anglophone until I told them much much later on: they thought I was either Acadian from New Brunswick or from the Gaspesie. They hated the fact that I was the big city girl from Montreal with my ‘airs of superiority’. While most of the inhabitants of Megantic and outskirts didn’t have a post-secondary education, they had a basic distrust of my educational background.

I have also spent time in many other rural towns in Quebec from Gaspesie to Outaouais; from Lac St-Jean to Abitibi.  I had varying degrees of the same reaction when they found out I was from Montreal.

Please note that I am not speaking of everybody who lives in rural Quebec; I’m speaking of my observations in general after having spent time with them.

Montreal is generally more progressive. When pundits speak of Quebecers being more supportive of keeping the gun registry than the rest of Canada (for the most part), more supportive of  strong social programs, more environmentally conscious; they tend to think of only Montrealers and forget about rural Quebecers.

Rural Quebecers (from my observations) tend to be more influenced by the local Catholic Church in their town; thus would against things like same-sex marriage and legalized abortions. They are avid hunters, thus, unfortunately, they support scrapping the long gun registry.  A lot of them are on farms or in a house on land that belonged to their families for generations.  In spite of  chronic unemployment issues in certain regions, most are absolutely against the welfare state. One can hear them bitching about how they’re breaking their backs working so hard in the woods, farms or factories only to pay taxes to support lazy welfare recipients. While Montreal mayor, Gerald Tremblay wanted to put a ban on fireplaces and woodstoves given the air generated into the atmosphere is considered pollution, many rural Quebecers use their fireplaces and wood stoves and I would dare anyone to try to take them away.

They also tend to be a lot less tolerant of immigrants than in Montreal.  Remember l’Herouxville? That small town which began that whole inquiry into reasonable accommodations by making rules about not stoning women and such.  I always thought that was funny given that I don’t think there are too many immigrants and certainly no Muslims in l’Herouxville and surrounding areas, but , I digress.

Furthermore, who would be suitable to not only lead the P.Q. in the next election but essentially, be president of a newly sovereign Quebec? I certainly wouldn’t trust Marois.  Let’s remember that she wasn’t a great finance minister and that she did buy off Doctor’s contracts for them to retire and she closed down quite a few hospitals. I know, right-leaning Federal Liberals cut transfer payments to the provinces leading to cuts in services, including health care in all of Canada, but  Marois could have cut other things elsewhere. It only proved her shortsightedness. Recently, she made a blunder for which she had to correct shortly after. She had said that she would have made those same cuts again today. If she were leading a sovereign Quebec, I have my doubts about it remaining as progressive as many would like to think.

Economically, Quebec is a have not province and has been for a long time. It has a steep deficit like that of the other provinces. I wonder how that would be financed? How would they (gov’t of a sovereign Quebec) correct a chronic unemployment problem in some of the regions like Gaspesie or Lac St-Jean? Granted, I believe they would start by collecting the taxes we would always  pay to the federal government, but is that enough?

Then what would a sovereign Quebec mean? A partnership with Canada of some kind, say like what Puerto-Rico is the U.S.? Or the outright country of Quebec?   Would they sign on to NAFTA (I would hope not; a sure way of a sovereign Quebec not escaping from having an American health care system or more of the same issues as with Softwood lumber among other issues)?

So many questions. Michel Bolduc attempts to explain Quebec separation, answering some common questions. Some of his answers to some questions make sense but there are others that concern me such as Health care, NAFTA, employment opportunities and economy.  However, I would venture a guess that a sovereign Quebec would more palpable than a Harpercon majority, but not by much.

For me, the priority is to make sure Stevie never ever gets his precious majority and hopefully, he and his nasty little evengelical Harpercon flunkies also go away; after all, another federal election is going to happen long before a provincial election in Quebec and for right now, we have a federalist premier leading a federalist party for better or for worse and thus, a joint P.Q. and B.Q. effort at playing constitutional hardball with Ottawa, thus leading to yet another referendum on sovereignty is a long way off. After Stevie and his nasty friends are gone (a girl can hope), I would like to see some of these questions about what a sovereign Quebec would be like answered and what kind of compromises can be made between Montreal and the rest of Quebec.