Well.
Most pundits are suggesting that Jack Layton made a mistake in appointing Nycole Turmel as interim leader of the NDP Party, following the recent disclosure of her long-standing membership in the separatist Bloc Quebecois.
They point to the fact that this revelation was known to Layton before he made the appointment.
They point to the fact that Turmel, certainly, was aware of her membership in the Bloc and should have been aware that this fact was going to bring the NDP under serious scrutiny.
So.
Then.
Knowing these things, is it perhaps possible that Jack Layton didn't make a "mistake" and that this furor, if you can call it that, is in fact a considered move on the part of Layton and the NDP?
Consider.
That the NDP has never achieved "official opposition status" until this past election.. a status owed almost single-handedly to the Province of Quebec.
That the Province of Quebec, in particular, has a strong degree of acceptance of government manipulation and control of its people - which makes them a particularly good fit for NDP conceptions of creating a "Brave New World" where the state can make everything better if only we let them control everything.
Jack Layton, has perhaps, sought to hitch his wagon the soft-separatist horse - and who better to solidify that connection but a former separatist, now "born again" federalist?
Sure.
It will piss off much of the rest of Canada, particularly in the western Provinces, but then, the chances of any major NDP gains west of Winnipeg are pretty marginal.
So - the saying goes - you dance with the girl who brung ya.
The NDP is just now, perhaps, the successor to the Bloc for the official party the disaffected Quebecois.
Bloc lite, if you will.