Bloc dreams dashed with election results

[maplesyrup]

Don't fear the Bloc, fear hyper-centralization

Canadian voters robbed the Quebec sovereigntists of their dream scenario, that in which the Conservatives would have formed a minority government without a single seat in Quebec.

With the Quebec Liberals reduced to a rump of backbenchers, this would have left the Bloc Québécois as the only party speaking for Quebec. The scenario would have dramatically enlarged the divide between Quebec and the rest of Canada, while somehow mirroring the sovereignty-association that the Bloc craves. As kingmaker to a Conservative minority, the Bloc would have, in fact, co-managed the country.

Instead, the Bloc finds itself in the same situation as in 1993, except without the status of Official Opposition. The Bloc gained as many seats as it had under the prestigious leadership of Lucien Bouchard, but despite having more than twice as many MPs, it will play a smaller role than the NDP, the party that will likely prop up the Martin government.

[maplesyrup]

Maybe this will bring the Bloc's dream a little closer:

Automatic recount could give Liberal seat to Bloc

[August1991]

Lysiane Gagnon writes weird stuff sometimes. She's an Outremont matron. Read this (from the article above):

Instead, the Bloc finds itself in the same situation as in 1993, except without the status of Official Opposition. The Bloc gained as many seats as it had under the prestigious leadership of Lucien Bouchard, but despite having more than twice as many MPs, it will play a smaller role than the NDP, the party that will likely prop up the Martin government.

What she fails to note is that within two years of that BQ success in 1993, a referendum missed passing by the narrowest of margins. Everyone in the PQ and BQ knows that.