Oh, NDP. It seems your interim leader,
Nycole Turmel, held a Bloc Quebecois membership while she was also a member of
the Federal NDP. And she’s a current member of Quebec Solidaire provincially
(you know, the guys who think the PQ are a bit soft). And when she returned her
Bloc membership card shortly before the election, it was for “personal reasons”
and not because of policies. And yet the party insists that she is both a) a
devout federalist and always has been, and b) won back from the Bloc, so go
NDP! Except that those two excuses can’t really exist in the same place at the
same time. So what to do?
And cue the flurry of media activity. Like
wondering how it is she could really hold two federal party memberships simultaneously. And learning that she was approached to run for the Bloc in the
previous two elections (which she says she declined because she’s a federalist –
who still bought a membership for the Bloc five years running). And the
official responses from parties, from the Conservatives’ typical “not a leader”
attack, the NDP’s counter-spin to the Liberal’s smug one. And a list of Turmel’s political donations – to the NDP. Here’s a list of other NDP MPs who have been associated
with the sovereigntists, including Dany Morin (who says he’s not, but isn’t sure how he would vote in a referendum). And here is the timeline of how
today went down.
Meanwhile, as Turmel heads to Newfoundland,
one wonders if people will now ask more questions about their Newfoundland
separatist MP there.
Here’s a look at how the government is
building de facto mega-prisons by building new maximum-security units in
medium-security penitentiaries. Because this will certainly end up well.
The mayor of Montreal is sending out the plea for more infrastructure funds for all cities in the wake of that tunnel
collapse in his city over the weekend.
Parliament may have voted down a private
member’s bill on the subject, but a terminally ill BC woman is asking the court
to rush through her right-to-die lawsuit.
A man convicted of murder via HIV infection
has been designated a dangerous offender, for those of you tracking HIV
criminalisation creep.
And back to those men arrested as part of
the most wanted “suspected war criminals” list, one is to be deported for
crimes he allegedly committed in Haiti. Except it turns out that Haiti has never heard of him, let alone charged him with war crimes or crimes against
humanity. Not that it will deter Jason Kenney or Vic Toews as they declare
victory.
