Am I, like, totally hallucinating the once-celebrated BFFness that was blossoming between the federal Tories and the Action democratique de Quebec? Did I imagine the fact that Stephen Harper found time to swing by Mario Dumont’s riding last December, just to hang out? Because according to the L. Ian MacDonald Headline Generator, things are – once again, still, for always and ever – super-duper-spectacularly-awesome for the Conservatives in Quebec, despite the fact that the ADQ – and Dumont, personally – are in the midst of a graceful swan dive to the bottom of the polls.
In fact, L. Ian seems to be suggesting that Dumont’s collapse is actually good news for Harper, even though I swear, just a few months back, he was one of the people tut-tutting with approval over the prospect of an alliance between the two parties, given that the ADQ supporters were ostensibly the most likely converts, as far as votes for the federal Tories.
Once again, it becomes sadly apparent that I am just not smart enough to appreciate the omniprescient strategic genius of The Smartest Prime Minister in the History of Ever. Thank goodness for Deux maudits anglais, the latest addition to the macleans.ca blog family, who will undoubtedly will be able to explain it all.
UPDATE: Colleague Wells weighs in,
Am I, like, totally hallucinating the once-celebrated BFFness that was blossoming between the federal Tories and the Action democratique de Quebec? Did I imagine the fact that Stephen Harper found time to swing by Mario Dumont’s riding last December, just to hang out? Because according to the L. Ian MacDonald Headline Generator, things are – once again, still, for always and ever – super-duper-spectacularly-awesome for the Conservatives in Quebec, despite the fact that the ADQ – and Dumont, personally – are in the midst of a graceful swan dive to the bottom of the polls.
In fact, L. Ian seems to be suggesting that Dumont’s collapse is actually good news for Harper, even though I swear, just a few months back, he was one of the people tut-tutting with approval over the prospect of an alliance between the two parties, given that the ADQ supporters were ostensibly the most likely converts, as far as votes for the federal Tories.
Once again, it becomes sadly apparent that I am just not smart enough to appreciate the omniprescient strategic genius of The Smartest Prime Minister in the History of Ever. Thank goodness for Deux maudits anglais, the latest addition to the macleans.ca blog family, who will undoubtedly will be able to explain it all.
UPDATE: Colleague Wells weighs in,
and demonstrates why I really may never get Quebec politics. It always
seems so oddly counterintuitive. Wouldn’t you think that the same
people who voted for Dumont last time around, but who are now
apparently thinking, huh, maybe voting for “Someone Else” didn’t turned
out as well as we’d hoped, might bewary of buying a federal pig in a
poke? Oh, and also, what about “reasonable accommodation” (which, as I
unfailingly have to mention, is neither)? I don’t see how Harper can
cosy up to the ADQ’s creepy xenophobic fringe without it coming back to
haunt him in the rest of the country, especially those immigrant/ethnic
communities where they’re hoping to steal away support from the
Liberals.