Duceppe Finds Brain

Maybe Gilles Duceppe took a leaf from André Boisclair’s book and experimented last week with alternative recreational substances. In any case, whatever temporary derangement led him to announce his candidacy for the leadership of the PQ has apparently evaporated, and he beat a hasty retreat yesterday, announcing he would now support Pauline Marois.

That makes all the sense in the world. The BQ, even more than the Conservative Party in Alberta, is defined by regional political and economic interests in a way that cuts across traditional political lines: if you live in Quebec, you don’t have to be a socialist to prefer a party whose direction is defined above all by your province’s best interests, and whose policies are unconstrained by the needs of any other part of Canada. It’s opportunistic, but it makes sense: and ironically it makes the “socialist” Bloc a natural ally of Stephen Harper, who also wants to weaken the federal government. All which suggests that the Bloc is going to be the dominant federal party in Quebec for the forseeable future.

The PQ, on the other hand, is a disaster aspiring to become a shambles. The one product they have to offer (separation through referendum) Quebecers don’t want. The ADQ has replaced them as official opposition, and barring a spectacular failure can be expected consolidate and build on their gains over the next couple of years.

Why on earth would Duceppe even have considered the PQ as an option? Why would the captain of the Mauretania suddenly ask for a transfer to the Titanic, post-iceberg?