Bloc Voters

I understand that not every person who votes for the Bloc is a separatist. They are a federal political party that plays a "Special Interest Lobby" role in parliament to extract the best possible deals for their province at a cost to every other province in the country. It makes perfectly logical sense how a nationalist voter would vote Bloc without necessarily wanting to split away from Canada. But it is absolutely correct that every single Bloc MP wants to separate and that desire influences political strategy decisions. Get the most possible for Quebec while setting the stage for formal separation. Is that not the Bloc mandate?

Therefore if you enter into a formal partnership with the Bloc, you are technically forming a partnership with separatists. Where in the name of Hell did we get this idea that pointing out that such a coalition partnership is a deal with a separatist political party is an insult to non-separatist Bloc voters? How is it an insult to the entire province? It is a factually correct statement! The Bloc has to have an "exit strategy" for how they will undermine and erode love of Canada in Quebec. There are several possible strategies, but I would say the most effective would be a "scorched earth" policy, where perpetual elections and political instability in Ottawa create a sentiment of disconnect with participation in the Canadian system.

If Chantal Hebert wants to create a false illusion that Tories are trying to personally attack all Quebecers by opposing any formal partnership with the Bloc, that is rubbish. I oppose the Bloc because THEY oppose Canada. I don't blame non separatist Quebec voters who may have voted for them, because they just want to maximize their transfer receipts from Ottawa. Even "soft-separatists" who support greater autonomy without complete separation, what is the best choice to best serve your constituency; extorting a bigger dollar figure from Ottawa through the Bloc, or actually electing an MP who will serve and represent you in the government? You can either extort a bigger deal, or actually be included in the day to day operations of the federal government. What most benefits you?

If we then follow this Herbert led march through its logical course, that an offensive against the Bloc is an insult to Bloc voters, and by osmosis the entire province; wouldn’t coming out and saying that less than a year after 5.2 million people voted Tory that all those people are stupid and made a poor choice? Is Ignatieff not insulting voters he absolutely needs to convert when he attacks the Prime Minister with such vitriol? Listen Michael, the people just elected the Tory government just inches shy of a majority despite the Stock Markets collapsing in free fall during the election campaign. Let them govern and set out policy positions where you tell the government to reach this level of compromise or you will vote non confidence. Go issue by issue, legislation by legislation, and set out policy positions that the government will accept or reject. But to instead state so firmly that you will not support a freshly elected strong minority because the government is incompetent, evil, or both; is quite a slap in the face to anyone who voted Tory less than a year ago. We knew what we were voting for last year. I don’t expect a few cleverly crafted superlative speeches of rhetorical fluff devoid of real policy has done anything to change the number of minds that you need changed.

Which is why a coalition government is likely the only possible road to a Liberal Government, and you can’t do that with just the NDP. The Bloc has to sign the dotted line. That’s the only way Ignatieff will be Prime Minister in the near term. Sadly though, patience does not seem to be one of his virtues because he would be wiser to lay in wait and allow for the government to buckle under the responsibility of governing on its own steam. That’s what governments do the longer they govern in a democracy.

How can the media speculate that Tories attacking the Bloc is an insult to all Quebecers, but Iggy can say everything he has been saying and that is not supposed to be offensive to Tory voters? I see a double standard, but why am I not surprised. The CBC should hire Don Martin to replace Don Newman. There I said it.