Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Battling the Bloc

Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper is garnering praise in some quarters for his bold offer to debate Bloc Quebecois boss Gilles Duceppe one on one.

But I don’t think it's such a good idea.

I mean let’s say Duceppe takes Harper up on the challenge; and let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Harper demolishes Duceppe.

The only upside for the Tories is they drain away nationalist support away from the Bloc.

But let’s face it, considering their lowly standing in the polls in La Belle province the Conservatives will never swing enough votes to win a seat.

What they could do, however, is weaken the Bloc enough to allow the Liberals to win a few more seats in Quebec – maybe enough seats to keep the Grits in power.

That’s why Harper should forget about Duceppe and forget about pandering to the Quebec nationalist element.

The election will be won or lost in Ontario.

2 comments:

Adam Daifallah said...

Im not with you on this one Gerry. Its smart for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its counter-intuitiveness. Othe reasons include the need to look like the Tories have Quebec support to get Ontario votes, the need to build in Quebec for the future (if they ever want to win a majority) and the possibility of winning a seat. (That seat being Beauce).

Monkey Loves to Fight said...

I agree with Adam Daifallah. It won't win Harper seats in Quebec, but Ontario won't vote Conservative unless they either think both federalist parties are non-existent in Quebec or the Tories are likely to gain seats there. By pandering to Quebec, it won't win Harper seats in Quebec, but it might in Ontario.