Evidentia

In last evening’s federal election, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives not only obtained a majority government – they will likely occupy that position for another two mandates (eight to ten years) – but also Jack Layton’s New Democrats made stunning gains, particularly in Quebec, and will form the Official Opposition.

This leaves Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals in purgatory. Does the former “natural governing party of Canada” have a future? Should the Liberals now try to merge with the New Democrats? Because if they had done so prior to the election, the merged party would be forming a majority government today. After all, the two parties are not as different as all that. Ignatieff ran a dignified campaign, but was simply swept aside by the NDP tidal wave.

Is the Liberal Party of Canada now dead?

An even more interesting question is what caused Gilles Duceppe’s Bloc Québécois to wipe out totally. Quebec nationalist mythology has often  explained defeats in terms of dark conspiracies, back-stabbing by anglophones, rejection by the rest of Canada, blackmail, fear campaigns etc.

But the one appealing to fear and blackmail this time was actually Duceppe himself. His defeat is far more the result of his own hubris.

Gilles Duceppe – a victim of his own hubris

Just two weeks ago, Duceppe gave an impassioned speech at the Parti Québécois congress in Montreal, electrifying his audience as he said how much he hoped the two pro-sovereignty parties would win 101 seats in the House of Commons and National Assembly – a majority of all Quebec seats. He claimed that the “next phase” was in sight, when everything would become possible, and with the Parti Québécois poised to win the next election within Quebec, a strong contingent of Bloc Québécois MPs would open the way to sovereignty.

“Canada has nothing more to offer Quebec,” Duceppe added.

Evidently the people of Quebec do not agree, because last evening, Duceppe went down to a resounding personal defeat, and resigned from leadership of the Bloc in a rambling and altogether pathetic speech. The Bloc itself now has just four seats in Quebec, compared to the New Democrats’ 58.

In the aftermath of last evening’s federal election, I am struck by how out of touch political élites and opinion spinners proved to be … with the people.

Élites are out of touch with the people