Comments | canpolitik: Quebec reactions to Dion victory

siobhan63 in canpolitik

Quebec reactions to Dion victory

Dec 04, 2006 10:23

If you can read French even a bit, you might be interested in reading some of the comments on Quebec forums regarding Dion's win.

Canoë is a good place to start. There are also the comments on Michel C. Auger's two blog columns for La Presse about Dion, which you can read here and here.

liberal leadership race

Comments 7

velvetpage December 4 2006, 16:29:34 UTC

Most of them seem to think this will help the Separatist cause, not the Federalist one.

siobhan63 December 4 2006, 16:59:33 UTC

Are you saying that surprises you?

Le Journal de Montreal's front page today is a huge picture of Bernard Landry saying Quebec is one step closer to independence.

velvetpage December 4 2006, 18:15:03 UTC

That didn't surprise me, no.

harry_beast December 4 2006, 17:41:24 UTC

The only way Dion's popularity in Quebec might be a problem would be during a separation referendum. Jean Charest will be the Quebec premier until at least 2007, so there won't be any referendum until at least 2008. There will certainly be a federal election before then.

In federal elections, the Liberals don't appeal to separatists, they fight for a limited number of federalist ridings. In the next election, they will try to hold onto their existing ridings and take away some Conservative ridings, and that's it. Dion's federalist credentials and any negative press he gets from separatists won't be a strike against him during the next federal election.

The separatist viewpoint is irrelevant to Dion's political fortunes. Like Chretien, if he can win Ontario, he will be the Prime Minister.

siobhan63 December 4 2006, 17:52:40 UTC

We're not talking about appealing to separatists. They either don't bother voting in federal elections because they don't give a shit or else if they do, they don't vote for federalist parties - that's why the BQ has most of the Quebec seats.

We're talking about appealing to non-separatists and the soft nationalists.

Did you actually read any of the comments?

harry_beast December 4 2006, 18:32:23 UTC

I perused them. Most of them weren't terribly enlightening, e.g. M. Dion est the schtroumf a lunettes.

As long as the Conservatives don't increase their number of seats in Quebec, that province won't have any significant effect on the outcome of the next federal election. I guess we agree that the Bloc will keep most of the seats in Quebec. Did you actually read my comment?

dannnielle December 4 2006, 19:20:36 UTC

Did you actually read my comment?

I like it.