NDP, Tory MPs outed for ties to separatist parties

In the United States, in the 1600's, they had the Salem Witch trials — a series of court hearings against women accused of practicing witchcraft. In the 1950s, there was the hysteria over McCarthyism and the outing of that nation's communists.

In this country – at least in the media — we seem to enjoy outing those who have flirted with the sovereignty movement in Quebec.

In recent years, there was much ado about NDP ties to the separatist parties.

MP — and former interim leader — Nycole Turmel was a member of the separatist Bloc Quebecois for five years and quit only weeks before announcing she would run for the NDP in 2011.

Meanwhile, MP Alexandre Boulerice was a campaigner and donor for the separatist provincial party known as Quebec Solidaire.

“I talked to Mr. Alexandre [Boulerice], he supported the referendum. In '95 he was a member of the [separatist] Quebec Solidaire," former Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe told Yahoo Canada News in an interview last year.

"Just prior the [2011] federal campaign Boulerice was a sovereignist and on the last day of the campaign he said he was a federalist."

[ Related: NDP defection rehashes the party’s ‘Quebec sovereignty’ problem ]

Shortly after the 2011 election, several other NDP MPs were vague about their allegiances.

"I’m not sovereigntist, but if there as a referendum, I don’t know what I would vote," NDP MP Dany Morin said according to Maclean's.

"Forty per cent of the population in Quebec is sovereigntist."

MP Pierre-Luc Dusseault told a Toronto radio station separatism isn't dead in Quebec.

And, finally, MP Marie-Claude Morin, was also 'unclear.'

"I think Quebec can flourish in Canada, but if Canada wants to work with Quebec ... we have to consider the fact we have a different culture, a different identity," she said in 2011.

"If there was a referendum tomorrow morning, we will see. The future will tell us."

[ Related: Gilles Duceppe eyes future sovereignty vote in Quebec ]

While the Tories have enjoyed publicizing the NDP ties, a new report by the Huffington Post suggests that there might be some former separatist sympathizers in their midst as well.

They note that two Conservative cabinet ministers – Denis Lebel and Maxime Bernier – both donated money to the PQ prior to being elected to Parliament.

"Bernier acknowledged that he flirted with the PQ but said he didn’t not vote yes during the 1995 referendum. He has since spoken strongly in favour of a united Canada," they wrote.

"Lebel’s director of parliamentary affairs, Benoît Fortin, told HuffPost in an email that as mayor of Roberval, Que., and as someone very involved in his community, Lebel occasionally took part in political activities."

[ Related: Is Pierre Karl Péladeau the next Lucien Bouchard? ]

And then there's former prime minister Brian Mulroney and his affiliation with PQ candidate Pierre Karl Péladeau.

Postmedia News published a piece about that on Thursday.

"Mulroney has been close to the Peladeau family for many years. As a young labour lawyer in the 1970s, Mulroney helped negotiate the first collective agreement for workers at Le Journal De Montreal for Pierre Karl’s father, Pierre," Postmedia notes.

"He has acted as a mentor to Pierre Karl, and is the godfather of one of his children."

While no one is suggesting Mulroney is, in anyway, in support of the sovereignty movement, it is kind of interesting that Mulroney's protege — like his other protege Lucien Bouchard — both turned out to be staunch separatists.

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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