Now this is a shocker: Gilles Duceppe suddenly announced in the last hour or so that he's staying in Ottawa and instead endorsing Pauline Marois for the leadership of the PQ -- just a day after he announced he was running.
One can only wonder both at the logic behind the flip-flop; and the endorsement. I'm trying to figure it out myself ... it only works if the PQ can reorganize quickly enough after their disasterous showing in the Québec elections two months ago. Pauline Marois is part of the old guard, long presumed to be the protégé of Jacques Parizeau. But Duceppe at 58 is just a year younger than she is. André Boisclair may have been a problematic leader but they didn't think Mario Dumont was going to be a factor -- really, no one did. However, Boisclair was the next generation, and the PQ really needs to look to its future and not its past.
Of course, I'm a federalist ... but many of the innovative ideas that guide Canada's social policies came from the separatists, when the then leaders were in their prime; and quite frankly Duceppe and Marois are yesterday's news. I would not be surprised if Boisclair suddenly decides to run for his old job, therefore -- after all, he claimed that it was Duceppe who forced him out and now he doesn't have to worry about him.
Plus, it's not everyday an ex-cokehead is a national figure. Maybe a revived Boisclair, or some other crazy younger man or woman, is just what the PQ needs to get out of its funk.
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