Brian Topp On The Hysteria Over Nycole Turmel's Past Politics

All of this lunacy over Turmel's past politics evokes a sense of disunity amongst Canadians, and certainly a sense that anyone who has ever voted for, supported, and/or sympathized with the Bloc is somehow unworthy to be involved in Canadian federal politics or have their opinions seriously heard. It's any wonder the Bloc still lives on nearly 20 years after it was vomited up by mutual ignorance and hatred on both sides of the fence:

Separatists in Quebec are a slightly happier bunch this week. Courtesy of the Bloc Québécois' clever leaking of NDP Interim Leader Nycole Turmel's correspondence to the Globe and Mail, they have learned how much the eastern English-Canadian establishment really, really misses them.

This is so for two good reasons.

First, from the perspective of Canada's two conservative parties (the blue real one and the reserve red one), if they can't make any headway in Quebec -- and they likely can't -- then the best possible victor in Quebec is the Bloc Québécois. For all practical purposes, a strong Bloc removes French-speaking Quebec from the Canadian political calculus. Toronto- and Calgary-based parties can then focus on competing in English Canada without any inconvenient need to compete in, think about, or build in Quebec. Perfect!

Second, a strong Bloc keeps those Quebec seats away from a competitor. As modern Canadian history shows, winning big in Quebec can provide a federal party with an excellent base for future national victory. If our blue and red teams can't have that advantage, they don't want a competitor to have it.

In particular, they don't want the New Democrats to have that advantage.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/brian-topp/the-turmel-noise-is-about-fear-not-national-unity/article2119334/