Will the BQ disband?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Not much point for them anymore...

[cinyc]

They don't even have official party status in the House of Commons any more.

[Smid]

The article posted yesterday about Duceppe campaigning in his own seat suggested something along the lines of they see the future of their movement existing only in provincial politics.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Seems so, yeah. There doesn't look to be any place for them anymore in federal politics.

[frihetsivrare]

Yes, and I think that the sovereignty movement is better off staying in provincial politics.  Especially now given that it isn't all that strong anymore.

[Franzl]

Seems so, yeah. There doesn't look to be any place for them anymore in federal politics.

Thankfully.

[Meeker]

There was a commentator on CBC earlier tonight who mused that a Harper majority government may actually be the best thing to happen to the sovereignty movement in a long time. If Harper more openly gives the finger to Quebec than he already has been recently it could re-energize a lot of latent sentiments.

Of course support for sovereignty won't necessarily translate into support for the BQ. If there is any BQ left to support.

[Verily]

Definitely could energize the PQ/separatism, but I think the NDP is anti-Harper enough for the anti-Harper vote in Quebec on the federal level. Especially once Layton steps aside in a couple of years for Mulcair.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

The Bloc can't do Jack. The BQ may well vanish, and support go to the PQ in provincial elections instead.

[Verily]

Anyone know much about the surviving four Bloc MPs? Here's what I've gleaned...

1. Jean-Francois Fortin, Haute-Gaspesie

No idea who he is, first-time MP, only won election because of confusion over whether to vote for the Liberal star Nancy Charest or the NDP.

2. Louis Plamandon, Bas-Richelieu

MP since 1984, originally a Red Tory sovereigntist PC who defected in 1990. Highly influential in the caucus in the past and definitely the most experienced. If the Bloc decides not to dissolve, he would almost certainly be the leader. He's pretty old, though, 67. Probably has a large personal vote and probably the only one who could be reelected as an independent. Could also see him defecting to the NDP, though. (Although a former PC, he sounds quite liberal-lefty.)

3. Andre Bellavance, Richmond-Arthabaska

A bit of an idiot, MP since 2004. Only action of note seems to be refusing to distribute Canadian flags to soldiers because he didn't support Canada, creating a big ruckus in 2004 shortly after he was elected.

4. Maria Mourani, Ahuntsic

Lebanese immigrant, strong law-and-order type, first elected in 2006. May have been reelected due to confusion over tactical voting. Seems like the second-most competent of the four.

[minionofmidas]

The NDP caucus is majority québecois now, so it's not so much a case of disbanding as of hostilely taking another party over.

[cinyc]

There was a commentator on CBC earlier tonight who mused that a Harper majority government may actually be the best thing to happen to the sovereignty movement in a long time. If Harper more openly gives the finger to Quebec than he already has been recently it could re-energize a lot of latent sentiments.

Of course support for sovereignty won't necessarily translate into support for the BQ. If there is any BQ left to support.

Harper is not going to more openly give the finger to Quebec, nor has he been, for that matter.  Harper still has some Quebec MPs and the party needs Quebec votes to maintain their majority over time.  They can't rely on crushing opposition in the 905 belt around Toronto come 2015.  They need to win back Quebec City and make inroads into Montreal, especially if the Liberals are finished as a party, too.

[MaxQue]

1. Jean-Francois Fortin, Haute-Gaspesie

No idea who he is, first-time MP, only won election because of confusion over whether to vote for the Liberal star Nancy Charest or the NDP.

Was a politics teacher in the college in Mont-Joli and former mayor of Ste. Flavie.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

They don't even have official party status in the House of Commons any more.

Well, Tories lost their status of an official party in 1993, when they lost all but two seats.

[Antonio the Sixth]

They don't even have official party status in the House of Commons any more.

Well, Tories lost their status of an official party in 1993, when they lost all but two seats.

...and today they don't exist anymore. It took a couple of years, but it was clear in 1993 they had no future.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

They don't even have official party status in the House of Commons any more.

Well, Tories lost their status of an official party in 1993, when they lost all but two seats.

...and today they don't exist anymore.

"PCP" indeed doesn't exist but their successors are too well off

[Antonio the Sixth]

They don't even have official party status in the House of Commons any more.

Well, Tories lost their status of an official party in 1993, when they lost all but two seats.

...and today they don't exist anymore.

"PCP" indeed doesn't exist but their successors are too well off

Today's tories are rather successors of the Reform Alliance (sadly). Ie the party that killed the PCs.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Today's tories are rather successors of the Reform Alliance (sadly). Ie the party that killed the PCs.

Legally they're the successor to both. Practically as well - look at the way that the old pre-1993 Tory vote has come back Ontario, for example.

[Хahar 🤔]

Today's tories are rather successors of the Reform Alliance (sadly). Ie the party that killed the PCs.

Legally they're the successor to both. Practically as well - look at the way that the old pre-1993 Tory vote has come back Ontario, for example.

Of course those Tories never won a majority without Quebec, and yet these ones did.

[You kip if you want to...]

So, basically, the Liberals and the PCs were basically (more or less) two sides of the same coin and the modern Conservatives are a few more steps to the right of them?