Desperate times call for desperate measures. Gilles Duceppe seems to know that better than anyone.
His political obituary was signed, sealed and delivered but he is back for one more kick at the sovereignty can.
He is pushing aside Mario Beaulieu, who really is the clown prince of the sovereignty movement.
Beaulieu’s Anglo-baiting behaviour should disqualify him for any public office.
So the Bloc was up the proverbial creek with him at the helm.
Now Duceppe would probably rather undergo a root canal than have to work with Beaulieu, but if he wants back in, he has little choice.
Duceppe will be running the show and Beaulieu will get to walk the dog.
Strange bedfellows indeed, who probably don’t see eye to eye on much, not even who gets the blanket.
In the election of 2011, Duceppe and his Bloc were handed their walking papers by Quebecers.
The lion of Laurier-Ste Marie was declawed even in his own riding.
Four members of the Bloc were elected in a party that once had 54 MPs.
I am not sure much has changed since then.
Quebecers are evolving and Duceppe truly is the old kid on the Bloc.
But with PKP running head office and with seemingly a single-minded obsession, Quebec’s secessionists are breathless in their hopes that finally the planets will align and Quebecers will say yes.
Duceppe, it seems, does not want to miss his date with destiny, as misguided as that might be.
The Bloc never was interested in the good governance of Canada, so we will be back to the politics of resentment and grievance and more of this.
“We’re plain different, the country we want what we have in the head and profoundly in the heart this is the country I want,” said Duceppe.
PKP's message doesn't resonate
The PKP effect seems to be if anything, a hindrance.
The Quebec Liberals won two by-elections this week by solid margins.
PKP may scare away more voters than he brings in, and those wins showed there was no PKP bounce.
All of his talk about sovereignty is hurting the PQ, not helping.
It seems the Pequistes have learned nothing from the last election when voters elected a government that would get back to business and to ensure the welfare of future generations, not one obsessed with pie in the sky fantasies and a seat at the United Nations.
Yesterday's men
This was a week in which one prominent separatist was laid to rest, and another announced an attempted resurrection.
Both are yesterday’s men.
Duceppe will certainly be a more formidable opponent than Beaulieu and it may mean a few more seats for a party whose expiry date is long past, but it’s my guess that Duceppe’s comeback will be less than spectacular.
The Bloc has lost its relevance and the future will be written not by yesterday’s men and women but by tomorrows’ whose vision is more inclusive, not less.
