Some may already know that I haven't been a big fan of Michael Ignatieff or his gang. To watch it get trounced in last Monday's federal election was like a dream come true, for me.
I have a great respect for the history of the Liberal Party and for the hard work of many people. Many in the party are my personal friends. At the same time, the Liberal Party that was humiliated last Monday had also lost its raison d'être and deserved to be defeated.
On the other hand, I have a lot of respect for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP Leader Jack Layton. I'm happy to see Harper as leader of a majority government and happy to see Layton leading the official opposition.
However, while I'm convinced that Prime Minister Harper will do a good job for the next four years proving Canadians that those talking about his "hidden agenda" were wrong, I have concerns about the role that Layton will be able to play.
During the last week of the election I was talking to a friend from Montreal and I told him that I was skeptical about the ability of the NDP to elect many members in Quebec because, I said, they don't have an organization.
I knew that Brad Lavigne, the mastermind behind the NDP success was doing a superb job in organizing people and giving the ridings the proper financial support. Still I said that the magnitude of electoral support in Quebec was so big that the NDP apparatus wouldn't have been able to handle it.
The answer from my friend shocked me. He said that it was not "the NDP beating up the Bloc Québécois, but the Bloc taking over the NDP." He told me that "it's not just votes from the Bloc going towards the New Democrats, but the entire Bloc organization moving in to help the NDP. The Bloc is just melting down."
I was skeptical but my friend told me that I would change my opinion on election night.
And I did change my opinion indeed. Even if I'm happy to see Jack Layton as leader of the opposition, I've now concerns about his ability to lead his caucus.
The NDP has elected 102 MPs and over 50 per cent are from Quebec . This means that there will be no NDP policy without the consent of people in Quebec .
I'm very happy that, finally, the political oxymoron that was a separatist party in the federal Parliament has been put to rest, but are we sure those pernicious ideas and structures have not just changed houses and put a new mask on their faces?
Requests from a separatist organization can be easily handled in Ottawa, as almost 20 years of federal politics have proven, but if a federalist party like the NDP is tainted by the same policies, the effect in Ottawa, in Quebec , and in the entire country could be devastating.
Let me be clear: I believe that Quebec voters are genuinely convinced that separatism is an obsolete idea and they decided to get rid of the Bloc precisely for that reason. What I'm afraid of is that some of the Bloc operatives have decided to jump from a sinking ship and land into a safer one, and this time one with federalist colours.
Layton is a smart politician and I'm sure he is aware of this danger. Winning big in this election is only the first step for the New Democrats to replace the Liberals as an alternative to the Conservatives. But Layton has to demonstrate to Canadians that he is the leader of this stronger NDP ready to lead the country, and not the mouthpiece of some camouflaged separatist wearing orange masks.
And reopening constitutional talks "to bring Quebec in" is not the right way to go. Quebec is already in and part of Canada , and that's the end of it.
