Monday, October 23, 2006
Iggy playing with national unity for electoral gain?
There's one basic flaw in the notion that Iggy's positions on national unity can restore the party's standing as the federalist option vis-a-vis Quebec. In the past, Liberals could trumpet national unity because they could sell essentially the same message inside and outside Quebec. With Iggy's new promise to call Quebec a nation in our constitution, what may be great for Liberals in Quebec may not be so great for the rest of Canada. I think Liberals need to think about that before getting on board Iggy's plane. Unless, of course, they don't mind crashing and burning, which I believe is becoming increasingly likely with respect to Iggy's electoral prospects.
People who think like Chantal Hebert does on national unity are the ones who always get us into trouble on the national unity front. They think they need an intellectual and political answer to the separatists, which is playing by the separatist rules. In that game, separatists always win.
