Barely a few days into her new role as interim-leader of the federal NDP party, and as leader of the official opposition, Nycole Turmel finds herself at the centre of a controversy that is pulling the political class straight out of its summer torpor. It’s almost as if someone had waited for this propitious moment to leak the news to the media. And, without a doubt, that’s exactly what happened.
This surely wasn’t what Jack Layton had in mind when he recommended Ms. Turmel to his party members as interim leader. The ensuing storm isn’t auspicious for the party – especially not when it comes to the Western Provinces’ ridings.
Phone lines haven’t stopped ringing, irate, if not outright enraged callers were venting their indignation at the news of Ms. Turmel’s affiliation with two separatist parties. For many people in English Canada this is enough to permanently disqualify anyone from any federal responsibilities.
Sure enough, the NDP could have done without this unpleasant incident. But they could have avoided it with a few basic verifications. And what is astonishing is that it seems the NDP had been well aware of Ms. Turmel’s affiliation with the Bloc Quebecois. And more: it was well known among the political class that when she was president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada she had endorsed a number of the Bloc’s candidates.
In fact, the former Liberal MP she defeated this past election, had himself raised the issue during the campaign. But no matter, Jack Layton has decided who should replace him while he recovers.
Yet, do the current revelations regarding Ms. Turmel warrant the vitriolic reactions of these past few days? BC’s NDP leader, Adrian Dix, was correct when he recently declared that not all Quebecois voting for the Bloc were in fact separatists.
I realize that for many people such a declaration might appear to be the apex of contradiction but anyone who has lived in Quebec can tell you that it’s in fact a common occurrence.
The mere fact that she was once a member of the Bloc Quebecois shouldn’t prevent her from being a member of a federal party. Other federal parties, dealing with Quebec’s political scene are also confronted with this reality. In fact the whole political scene in Quebec, as it plays out, can seem incongruous to many outsiders.
Unlike most Canadian provinces, Quebec has no federal political parties working in the province. This goes for all federal parties except the Green Party. So, the NDP, over the years, has certainly benefited from the votes of people adhering, provincially, to a separatist party. The contrary would surprise me greatly.
However, Ms. Turmel’s situation is different. She has become the interim leader of a federal political party that is also Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. One must at least be intellectually honest with oneself. One cannot be federalist and have a soft spot for separatists.
And so, understandably, Ms. Turmel has come up with some lengthy explanation as to her loyalty to federalism and specifying that her former political ties are a thing of the past.
The Bloc Quebecois, who was sorely defeated by the NDP, must be grinning, at least a bit. Yet it is Stephen Harper who must be pinching himself over and over again just to make sure he’ s not dreaming. He is a Prime Minister who has, on the benches in front of him, interim opposition leaders, and an official opposition steeped in controversy.
The fall session in Ottawa will, undoubtedly, be mighty interesting. Meanwhile, Stephen Harper can enjoy a dreamy summer.
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Translation Monique Kroeger
