Poor old Gilles Duceppe. Daring to dream of leading his Bloc Quebecois bomb throwers from the parapets of Stornaway at the outset of the election campaign, Duceppe in his most vivid of nightmares could not possibly have imagined that while jousting with Jack Layton during the televised party leaders debates about extending French language supremacy into Quebec workplaces under federal mandate that he was handing Layton the shovel Jack would on election night metaphorically employ to toss dirt on the coffin of Gilles and virtually tout la gang du Bloc Quebecois.
The moment Jack Layton hitched his wagon to Bill 101, callously tossing anglophone Quebecers under the bus, Duceppe’s relevance in Quebec began to leak like an aging levee.
Increasingly weary of Duceppe, soft nationalists in Quebec saw in Jack Layton a new(er) face and heard a message of socialism which plays well in a constituency with a fundamentally left wing societal leaning. Layton was an alternative to the never ending growling of Jacques Parizeau and politicians two generations removed from the province’s younger voters.
Unfortunately today, Jack Layton’s romancing of the Quebec sovereignist vote appears to have resulted in the NDP leader taking on the role of indulgent federal landlord of the Quebec separatist agenda.
That Mr. Layton, as a Toronto member of parliament and the leader of Her Majesty’s official opposition would allow himself to be so swayed (intimidated?) so quickly by his Quebec caucus to publicly endorse the Parti Quebecois position that 50%+1 wins the day in the next sovereignty referendum is of concern. Don’t hide behind your party’s so-called Sherbrooke Declaration of 2005. You clearly weren’t comfortable addressing the issue for three full days last week, then folded under pressure on the fourth.
Saturday, in Montreal Layton spoke of defending Quebec culture and the French language. From? Have an answer to that question Mr. Layton, or must you consult with Parti Quebecois leader Madame Pauline Marois? After all Jack, you’re parroting the fundamental Marois’ attack on Canada.
I decided to quiz a committed Quebec sovereignist on the impact of the federal NDP leader’s statements. Nino Colavecchio, a Parti Quebecois member and sometimes radio talk show host in Montreal said this. “Jack Layton is taking an enlightened view of the Quebec reality. Those who believe Candaa needs to be kept together and that Quebec should remain within Confederation perhaps should take a lesson from Jack Layton and find out what can be done to satisy the traditional demands of Quebec. Time perhaps for Canada to take a ‘beau risque’”.
Mr. Colavecchio’s view notwithstanding, Jack Layton has by endorsing 50%+1 for the next Quebec sovereignty referendum already aligned himself with the “winning conditions” as defined by the province’s determined separatists and severely compromised his options as far as defending Confederation during any sovereignty campaign is concerned.
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Roy Green is host of the Roy Green Show on the Corus Radio Network
email: roy@roygreenshow.com
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