MONTREAL - The internal bickering and debates about devotion to the sovereignist plan for heaven on earth are tearing my friends the pequistes into a million strands of pure wool.
Madame Marois is suggesting an Estates General on the future of the sovereignty movement.
Sort of like a separation think-tank where tired old ideas from tired old warriors would be dressed up in new outfits.
I would rather watch paint dry then have to listen to how many angels you can fit on the head of a Yes button.
Then you have the idea from prominent pequiste Bernard Drainville for citizen-led referendums.
If 15 percent of Quebecers signed a registrar, there would be a vote.
Can you imagine the unmitigated disaster that would be? Let's have a referendum on whether the weekends should always be sunny.
And you have former Pequiste, language pit-bull Pierre Curzi publicly fancying himself as a new chief.
Yes the PQ must get a grip, Madame and realize once and for all that the pequiste dance of the seven veils isn't something Quebecers want to see.
Sure, a good number of Quebecers have the idea in their hearts and always will, but most are realistic enough to know such a misguided adventure would end only in disaster.
The PQ's problem is not Madame Marois. The PQ's problem is itself
Its option is the problem.
So the PQ and Madame Marois are stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
If it rejects its option, then only a rump will be left. Think of what happened to the Bloc in the last election.
If it promotes its option, same thing. The appetite just isn't there.
Whether the party can survive this gathering storm is very much in doubt.
Leadership dogfight looms at NDP
Some interesting days are also ahead for the NDP.
The leadership race has all the potential to be a nasty schoolyard fight. It could be brutal.
The NDP elite who control the party are Toronto-based, tried and true members of the social democratic left who can't figure out what to do with all of these Quebec intruders.
Quebec's NDP star Tom Mulcair is not exactly loved by many of the longtime party apparatchiks. Mulcair goes into the corners and is not afraid a good fight.
And he clearly has his eye on the prize. But only two percent of the party's membership is here.
Will the Toronto crowd postpone a convention to give Mulcair time to sign up new members in Quebec?
Will snubbing Mulcair mean Quebecer's affair with the NDP could be nothing more than a one night stand?
Replacing Jack Layton will be impossible.
Finding a successor that to keep the party together will be almost as difficult.
