Apparently Jean-Pierre Blackburn was busy today trying to swallow his words from yesterday. Having indicated that a Conservative majority would open the Pandora's Box of constitutional change and satisfy Quebec's historical demands, he was busy backtracking today. Today he said:
""I think everyone can see the fruit is not ripe at this stage.As Quebecers, we can all hope to see the day when all these measures are part of the Canadian Constitution. However, to do it you need the will of the provinces, you need the right circumstances to head in that direction."
As Macleans so cleverly put it: "He did not say whether the fruit would be ripe if the Conservatives won a majority government."
Another Conservative Quebec MP, Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon attempted to slam the door shut: "There is absolutely no appetite to open the Constitution and to have any amendments to the Constitution."
But the horse is out of the barn. The fruit is rotten. The only question is: can the Liberals ride it smoothly to reverse their sagging fortunes?
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=n0402119A
2008/04/02
Quebec/"The fruit is not ripe"
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2 comments:
Some commentators have pointed out that no Minister speaks accidentally in Harper's government. As Jeffrey Simpson put it in the globe and Mail, "The first rule for understanding the Harper government is that every important message (and most of the less important ones) runs through the Prime Minister's Office. Ministers are gagged or put on short leashes. They don't freelance."
What happened was a "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" game of political positioning for the nationalist vote in Quebec that the Harperites will do just about anything to attract.
Amen
Exactly. But then who is to say that Harper believes in Canada anymore? Or Quebec in it? Maybe the master strategist has decided that “Canada” is indeed better off with sovereignty-association.
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