Thursday, April 14, 2011

Collapse in Quebec: Former co-chair of the Quebec wing of Liberal Party of Canada joins the CPC.

Denise Verreault, campaign co-chair for the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party of Canada has abandoned the Liberals and announced that she is supporting PM Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada. (link, link translated,)

From the Globe and Mail Her decision to support the Conservatives sent a clear message to voters in the region that when it comes to jobs and investments the Conservatives still carry a great deal more weight than Mr. Duceppe’s promise to defend their interests. And that message alone may be enough for the Conservatives to hold-on to the seats they have in Quebec to help them in their quest for a majority government.

A collapse of what is left of Liberal support in Quebec, or just Quebec realizing that it is better on the inside of government than the outside? Either way, in Quebec I am starting to see shades of 1984 and Mulroney.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anyone think we'll see this story in the MSM? Two directors of the Vaughan Conservative EDA have resigned and it's national news! A campaign co-chair in Quebec don't mean nuthin' to Taber and company!

The_Iceman said...

While this is great news for the Tories, I was expecting more Liberals in Quebec to defect to the NDP. I love the NDP attack ads on Iggy's voting attendance.

Anonymous said...

I think that this not only sends us a message, it sends all LIEberal candadates one also. I feel for some reason that those LIEberals that change sides will get a cabinet seat.

There are lots of loyal Cons that deserve a cabinet position ... Harper should advise former LIEberals that they have no promise to be in cabinet just because they switched sides.

The Cons should be cautious until they prove themselves, they are still very strong LIEberals at heart and they are only doing this for political gain .... hope I am wrong.

Clown Party

Anonymous said...

I don't trust anyone from any party that crosses over to the apposing party. If things start to go south are they going to switch again. They are self serving hypocrites.

Rob C

Cranky or Just A Crank said...

This is not surprising in the least.

There is a real opportunity for the rest of Canada/risk for Quebec that the Conservatives could pull off a majority without any new seats in Quebec.

That could all but wipe out the overwhelming need to pay off Quebec or pander to Quebec in order to reach the majority level.

This is just a case of jumping onto the bandwagon with little or no commitment to the underlying Conservative party. Does the name Lucien Bouchard ring any bells.

The Conservatives should enjoy the gains and the Liberal losses but they should not for one instant think that there has been any conversion to cause.

Michael Harkov said...

Jean Lapierre said a few weeks ago that he was seeing the collapse of the Liberals in Quebec; this could be another indication of that. When a former chair of your Quebec wing wants to defect, it is a serious blow, a Quebec Liberal collapse narrative confirmed.

So now it seems that things are starting to gear down in Quebec behind the scenes for the LPC, which would also explain some of their poor showing in the polls there. How much the Tories can capitalize remains to be seen, as the NDP seem to also be experiencing a sutained uptick there.

I can see the Bloc trending down somewhat as the realization dawns that a Tory majority without Quebec representation effectively neuters the Bloc and freezes out Quebec. It is certainly feasible that the NDP and the Tories eat into Bloc and Liberal support to the tune of 5+ or so seats each net gain. That would go a long way in off-setting possible lost seats elsewhere or makig it easier to get that majority by having to score a few less seats elsewhere, like in Ontario, Atlantic Canada, an BC.

Our numbers are very solid and 39-41 seems to be the new norm. I'm really liking our majority odds now. :D

Jason Cherniak said...

Just ignore the part of the article that says she did it to win a ship-building contract for her company.

Anonymous said...

Well Jason, maybe after looking at the Lib platform she realised that ships and planes would never be built in Canada if Iggy won, sounds pretty astute to me.

"Expert" Tom said...

Libs were just up in Quebec earlier in the week (according to pollsters), but with a one/two day slide everyone is jumping ship? More likely internal polling doesn't match the spin of the national pollsters. I am really curious to see the REAL state of the nation. I think we could be in for a pleasant surprise on May 2nd.

Anonymous said...

Cherniak, don't you mean "may" have done it because....

Ardvark said...

You know there has been some serious damage to the Liberals when Jason shows up to spin for them.