R.I.P. Jack Layton

NEELY wrote:I'll say this though, if Layton will have any legacy going forward it will be that he took Quebec back from the seperatists, but that remains to be seen.

If though, Quebec from here on out votes for a federal party (which I doubt personally) Layton will get all the credit in the world for bringing Canada closer together. I just don't think that will happen and the history books will say Quebec voted NDP for one election.

I think that having a separatist party at the national / federal level is a thing of the past. The Bloc is dead. The provincial PQ will be the ones to carry the separatist torch. That's why Jack's landing of Quebec is so huge; gaining Quebec has historically been the first or last step a would-PM needed to take before actually becoming the PM. It will be up to the NDP to hold onto Quebec, and then to convince other regions that the NDP is both a government-in-waiting and a firmly federalist party of which Quebec is one informing voice rather the controlling partner.

It's still a better foundation to build on than what the Liberals are currently standing on.

rooneypoo wrote:

NEELY wrote:I'll say this though, if Layton will have any legacy going forward it will be that he took Quebec back from the seperatists, but that remains to be seen.

If though, Quebec from here on out votes for a federal party (which I doubt personally) Layton will get all the credit in the world for bringing Canada closer together. I just don't think that will happen and the history books will say Quebec voted NDP for one election.

I think that having a separatist party at the national / federal level is a thing of the past. The Bloc is dead. The provincial PQ will be the ones to carry the separatist torch. That's why Jack's landing of Quebec is so huge; gaining Quebec has historically been the first or last step a would-PM needed to take before actually becoming the PM. It will be up to the NDP to hold onto Quebec, and then to convince other regions that the NDP is both a government-in-waiting and a firmly federalist party of which Quebec is one informing voice rather the controlling partner.

It's still a better foundation to build on than what the Liberals are currently standing on.

I disagree with that more than you can imgaine but it has yet to be seen and can't really be debated.

NEELY wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

NEELY wrote:I'll say this though, if Layton will have any legacy going forward it will be that he took Quebec back from the seperatists, but that remains to be seen.

If though, Quebec from here on out votes for a federal party (which I doubt personally) Layton will get all the credit in the world for bringing Canada closer together. I just don't think that will happen and the history books will say Quebec voted NDP for one election.

I think that having a separatist party at the national / federal level is a thing of the past. The Bloc is dead. The provincial PQ will be the ones to carry the separatist torch. That's why Jack's landing of Quebec is so huge; gaining Quebec has historically been the first or last step a would-PM needed to take before actually becoming the PM. It will be up to the NDP to hold onto Quebec, and then to convince other regions that the NDP is both a government-in-waiting and a firmly federalist party of which Quebec is one informing voice rather the controlling partner.

It's still a better foundation to build on than what the Liberals are currently standing on.

I disagree with that more than you can imgaine but it has yet to be seen and can't really be debated.

I don't mean that the sovereignty movement is dead. The PQ is set to take back the province, and has a strong separatist contingent. But a national party dedicated to sovereignty, ala the Bloc, is a thing of the past. The beating they took this year was second only to that of the conservatives in the 1993 election. Quebec got tired of a "national" party that, de facto, could never accomplish anything on the national stage because its raison d'etre was always already provincial in scope.

Maybe, maybe not, time will tell but I don't think Quebec will ever stop thinking of themselves as something special vs other provinces and it will always carry forward onto the naitonal stage.

Stephen Lewis's eulogy for Jack:

http://rabble.ca/news/2011/08/stephen-lewiss-eulogy-jack-layton?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rabble-news+%28rabble.ca+-+News+for+the+rest+of+us%29