This was me on the night of the 2011 federal elections, where in the face of Jack Layton’s “Orange wave,” the Bloc dropped from 47 seats to a minute 4. Little did anyone know, Jack was on his way out and the Bloc would hobble through the last election with a cozy 10 seats. That is until today…
Bloc Québécois decimated as 7 of 10 MPs quit
The Bloc implodes, under internal disputes with their leader, as 7 MPs quit (including a founding MP -and Dean of the House!- Louis Plamondon). The rebel MPs cite the authoritative nature of Martine Ouellet -and resulting bickering- as a distraction from their true goal of representing the rights of Quebeckers in Ottawa.
IMHO MPs don’t mind strong leaders when their parties are successful and their jobs are safe; for the past 7 years the Bloc has survived but clearly have an unsteady future in Quebec. Their political relevance is dwindling and the general population are growing more comfortable in expressing their ideological fragmentation in federal matters. A provincial Bloc simply cannot truly represent the ideological bent of all of their members who [ul]
[li]hold the same right-left sensitivities to political matters as people in the ROC[/li][li]are exposed to the same right-left hot-topic/wedge issues of the day[/li][/ul]
So, is this infighting the end for the Bloc?