Building Blocs
I’ve always liked Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Quebecois, ever since the 2000 Television debate. During the broadcast he stated the clearest message of any leader, “if it’s good for Quebec we’ll vote for it. If it’s not good for Quebec, we’ll vote against it.” It was a simple and essential raison d’etre for a party that has a chance to win every Federal riding in Quebec next election.
The anger and frustration with the Liberals in the province is rabid. More Quebeckers tuned into the televised hearings of the Gomery Commission than any other viewer in the land. It was the reality TV of La Belle Province and it’s going to cost Paul Martin a bundle in votes on January 23rd.
I think the success of the Bloc and the question of independence is an interesting political phenomenon. Here you have a federally elected party taking full advantage of the system as it exists, yet standing up for separation, if and when it suits them, particularly during an election campaign. But voting for the Bloc, if you happen to have the geographic advantage of doing so, will only accomplish one thing: it will make you feel better.
It’s a safe choice and every good thinking member of the Bloc Quebecois and the Parti Quebecois knows it. It’s a promise instead of a commitment. Just like in high school when Ken was too young to marry Barbie, so instead of an engagement ring he gave her a promise ring.
Trouble is, promises are sometimes broken; especially by politicians.
That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.
posted by LeonT at 6:25 p.m.
1 Comments:
What I find interesting about the Bloc and its members is that they have become, essentially, institutionalized revolutionaries. They live in Ottawa, participate in Parliament, get good food cheap in an oak-panelled dining room, amass lucrative pensions, sweat alongside their federalist counterparts on taxpayer-subsidized Stairmasters and, in recent years, win federal election debates. That's hardly the stuff of Che. And it's been that way for some time now. I wonder how long you can willingly be part of a system while, with a true heart, fight to destroy or at least fundamentally change it. What would the separatists of Basque or Chechnya make of it all?
That's just what I think -- and I'm never wrong.
1:07 p.m.
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