Fear and Loathing of the Bloc and a United Left

With a Coalition of the Liberals and New Democrats, now on the verge of forming a government, significant numbers of talking heads and assorted pundits in the media, are expressing concern, outrage, or suggesting that the support is tantamount to sedition. Further, there seems to be a fear of admitting that a significant portion of the Canadian electorate happy with the current turn of events. One of the issues used by pundits, is the inclusion of the Conservative talking point decrying the use of the Bloc to shore up support for this government in waiting. One particular point of view that I have not heard explored in any detail is why Gilles Duceppe, and his caucus would sign on to support the Coalition in the first place?

One possible explanation would center around the dismal state of the Party's finances. They, more than any other party in Parliament are dependant on the public funding, that the Harper Conservatives vowed to eliminate in last week's financial statement delivered by Jim Flaherty. Given the circumstances, it is in their interest to protect that funding, until such time as they are able to rebuild their finances from private contributions. Another alternative would be to eliminate the threat of bancrupcy by assisting the other members of the Coalition in eliminating the Conservative threat as much as possible.

Secondly, in polling by Leger Marketing, the Provincial Liberals, led by Jean Charest, are currently enjoying a comfortable lead over the PQ, and appear to be well on the road to forming a majority government after the Provincial Election to be held on December 8th. As a result, the Bloc may have chosen to use support of the coalition as a means of buying time, as it were, to rebuild the fortunes of the Separatist movement in Quebec. Support of the coalition in Ottawa, although it might outrage some hardcore separatists, is more likely to be advantageous than damaging to the party in the long run. In addition, the question of another referendum on Quebec separation any time in the near future remains moot, as there are clear signs that the younger generation of Francophones in the Province appear to regard the issue of independence as an issue of the older generation. Their are signs that the electorate is begining to tire of the entire issue of Quebec independence.

It is also worth noting that support of the coalition offers an unprecedented opportunity for the Bloc to influence the government of Canada without appearing to “Sell Out” to the forces of Federalism in Ottawa, and without actually appearing to be a part of the Government of the day. The prospect of advancing the interests of Quebec by holding the balance of power in a minority situation must have been attractive indeed. Further, they did not have to compromise their leftist ideals by supporting the decidedly right-wing agenda of the Conservatives. The fact that Stephan Dion's tenure as Prime Minister is time limited to next May would allow their base the opportunity to forget that they supported the architect of the last federalist campaign during the referendum in 1995.

Finally, although it flies in the face of the Harperites, perhaps, the Bloc, in light of the economic crisis, doing what they were elected to do, putting the needs of the electorate first and placing the more divisive portions of their platform on hold. To the cynical Conservatives, that would be unfathomable. To this writer, it is clear the only party in the House with no interest in addressing the needs of the Country, are the Conservatives. Their attempts at divide, and conquer politics, and demonization of the opposition, in the current crisis have been shameful.

In light of the happenings in Parliament, it is possible, that Harper in his efforts to destroy the Opposition, may have revived the flagging fortunes of Separatism in Quebec. His monumental arrogance is probably the most destructive force in politics in generations.