Sovereignists signalling desperation..

This is from the Star. It seems that Sarkozy is more concerned with doing business with federalists rather than getting a few cheers for ""Vive le Quebec libre" as a new De Gaulle. The Bloc with the Liberals trotted out the Bernier liason. Surely Bernier's incompetence can stand on its own without bringing in relationships of questionable relevance!


Sovereignists signalling desperation TheStar.com - Columnist - Sovereignists signalling desperation
May 09, 2008 Chantal Hébert
Ottawa
Under the guise of a full-scale rant against the monarchy and Canada's place in the celebrations of Quebec City's 400th anniversary, Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe gave the House of Commons a rare peek into sovereignist angst this week.
The issue was Governor General Michaëlle Jean's ongoing visit to France for the launch of the celebrations in that country. But what would normally have been a matter of routine irritation for the Bloc ended up exposing a raw nerve.
Not since the unity battles that divided previous Parliaments had the House seen Duceppe blow so many gaskets over the course of a single question period. He called the visit "an insult to the Quebec nation." He portrayed it as an attempt by the federal government to "usurp the celebrations" and he described the monarchy as an "archaic, folkloric and ridiculous" institution.
The exchange provided a sample of the raucous fight that will pit the Bloc against the Conservatives in the next election. It also betrayed mounting sovereignist tension in the face of declining fortunes.
Three consecutive Quebec polls have shown the Bloc tied with the Tories in the province, with only one in three voters currently inclined to support Duceppe's party.
At the same time, the Parti Québécois, under a new leader, is failing to rise above the score that set it back to third place in last year's election. By putting plans for a referendum on the back burner, Pauline Marois may actually have accelerated the erosion of the sovereignist coalition in Parliament and abroad.
In France where the right has traditionally been sovereignty's staunchest ally, President Nicolas Sarkozy has strong personal ties to Quebec's federalist business establishment. For months, there has been speculation that he will re-triangulate the Ottawa-Quebec-Paris relationship to treat Canadian unity as a given.
Yesterday, he sent his strongest signal to date, going off a prepared speech to say that France was close to Quebec but also loved Canada and that there was no need to choose between the two.
While the Bloc has gone to the barricades over the Jean visit, there is no denying that it was a public relations coup that many Quebecers stand to see as a sign that the anniversary matters to the Harper government.
With Quebec City the ground zero of an all-out election war between the Bloc and the Conservatives, there were other signs this week that the hostilities are escalating to new levels.
On Wednesday, Duceppe expressed concerns over reports that Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier's former girlfriend once had ties with biker gangs. But the inside story is that, behind the scenes, the Bloc (and the Liberals) had been actively lobbying the media to break the news for weeks.
Julie Couillard has no criminal record. She has never been charged with criminal activity and some of Quebec's crack investigative reporters failed to find evidence that she has had links with bikers since a 1999 divorce.
It is just about unprecedented for a Quebec party to venture into the private life of a political opponent in this fashion. The Bloc, under Lucien Bouchard or even under previous incarnations of a more serene Duceppe, would not have touched a story that so barely passes the test of public interest. Nor, for that matter, would a Liberal party that had not lost its opposition rudder.
But desperate times, it seems, call for desperate moves.
Chantal Hébert's national affairs column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.