Is Duceppe the One?

So, I don’t know if you’ve heard yet, but Gilles Duceppe (leader of the Bloc Quebecois) will seek the leadership of the provincial Partie Quebecois. The job was vacated this week by Andre Boisclair, who thought he could weather the storm of insecurity inside his own party, but soon found out that like a weak kitten, the PQ sometimes eat their own.

There have been numerous people who have passionately pitched separatism in la belle province, but most of the time it was a knuckleball that no ne could hit (or at least they did, it was a weak liner to the first baseman and the game was over before it began).

Gilles Duceppe isn’t one of these people. He’s hardheaded. He’s calculating and smart. And he’s a passionate separatist, which should make the leadership of most parties in Ottawa shiver. Afterall, who will fight for Canada? Stephen Harper.....meh.....Stephane Dion.....meh....Jack Layton....Christ, don’t tell me this is our starting line-up. I’ll go with Mr. Harper because he’ll take a harder line than either of the other wha-hoos. Mr. Dion can’t even negotiate on behalf of Canada, because he’s FROM THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC....how could that not constitute a conflict of interest?

An interesting question was tossed around in our newsroom today. What is separation? Dictionary.com defines the legal term of it as, cessation of conjugal cohabitation, as by mutual consent.

The clarity act gives the country’s consent only with a clear majority on a clear question. The people of Quebec must decide on their side of the arrangement.

Coming back to the question. Notice there is no mention of sovereignty-association. That long, hyphenated word means that Quebec would succeed in gathering their clear majority on a clear question, they would opt to leave Canada but at the same time take all of the great stuff we enjoy with them. They would have the same currency, avail of our universal medicare and still receive transfers from Ottawa. This is what they want.

Again, Stephen Harper has to be the leader to negotiate any deal. These are the words I’d use: “Get out.” No medicare. No currency. And certainly no transfer payment from the capital of a separate country all together. Also, if you’re leaving, let’s split the national debt 13 ways and 1/13th of that debt should be passed to the “country” of Quebec. Still wanna separate?

The decision by Gilles Duceppe to take a run at the PQ leadership is, once again, a thorn in the side of Ottawa. A trio of names come to mind- Levesque, Parizeau and Bouchard. These are men who brought the province of Quebec to the brink, but could never convince their fellow Quebecker to make that leap of Faith with them. Gilles Duceppe could be the one to change all of that.

UPDATE: In what can only be considered a strange turn of events, one day after Duceppe decided he would return to Quebec and whip the PQ into shape, he's now decided to stay in Ottawa afterall