Canada PoliticsNew political party is bad news for the Bloc and NDP
With the hit and run death of the Canadian soldier Quebec and the ongoing concerns over the Ebola crisis, one news story seems to getting brushed aside.
While it may not seem significant today, it could have some serious ramifications for the 2015 federal election.
On Tuesday, Quebec MPs Jean-François Fortin and Jean-François Larose have started a new political party called Forces et Démocratie.
Fortin is a former Bloc Quebecois MP that has been sitting as an independent since last summer while Larose just defected from the NDP on Tuesday morning.
The FD intends to run candidates in all Quebec ridings in the next election, will push aside the sovereignty issue, will focus on grassroots politics and give party MPs much more power than the traditional parties.
For different reasons, the day’s events have to be of concern to both the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP.
The Bloc has been is disarray since Mario Beaulieu became the party’s leader last spring. Beulieu has become unpopuluar, both inside and outside his party caucus, after his full court press on sovereignty and for criticizing the party’s previous leaders.
Since he’s taken the helm, two caucus members have left leaving the BQ with leaving them with just two MPs.
Now, with another party in Quebec, the future of the once mighty Bloc looks very bleak.
[ Related: Three years after the death of Jack Layton, the NDP appears destined for third-party status ]
As for the NDP, LaRose is the fourth Quebec MP and fifth MP total that has walked away from their party since the 2011 election.
Lise St-Denis joined the Liberals prior to Thomas Mulcair’s leadership, saying that her constituents “voted for Jack Layton.”
Claude Patry bolted to the Bloc Quebecois, saying that he was a sovereignist and didn’t agree with the NDP’s position on the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project.
In 2012, MP Bruce Hyer defected after being removed from a shadow cabinet post, and eventually joined the Green Party.
And in August of this year, Quebec MP Sana Hassainia quit the NDP caucus over the party’s position about the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
[ Related: In first poll since ISIS debate, Justin Trudeau’s popularity takes a dip ]
The New Democrats came out swinging, in a statement on Tuesday, suggesting that Larose betrayed the memory of Jack Layton and calling on him to step down and face a byelection.
"The NDP believes that MPs must respect the will of voters – a fundamental principle in our democracy. As a result, we unanimously voted in favour of a bill that would force defectors to step down before attempting to be elected under another party banner.
“Larose voted for this bill. Therefore, I would ask that he demonstrate that he is a man of principle and immediately step down in order to force a by-election in Repentigny ,” added Quebec caucus vice-Chair, Élaine Michaud (Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier).
After a couple of weeks of good news — a new childcare policy that Canadians seems to like and a slight bump in the polls — this is a big blow to Thomas Mulcair’s party
Despite their bravado — no matter which way you cut it — there is no positive spin when a party loses its fifth MP in just three years. It won’t play well in Quebec and it won’t play well nationally.
And, like the Bloc, New Democrats need be concerned about another party in Quebec — a province’s whose electorate seems to embrace new political parties like no other.
October 21st 2014, could very well be a significant day in the run-up to the 2015 election.
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