From: The Toronto Star
Nycole Turmel’s flirtation with sovereignty was not a secret.
During last spring’s federal election campaign, the incumbent Liberal she easily toppled tried to exploit her separatist dalliance.
But she is no longer merely the NDP MP for Hull-Aylmer and being a card-carrying member of the Bloc Québécois is no mere flirtation.
It is not even an affair. It is a full-fledged, long-term relationship.
If Jack Layton knew that the woman he recommended as interim leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition was, until a month before running for the NDP, a member of a party bent on breaking the federation, he showed a spectacular lack of judgment.
And if he didn’t know, why didn’t he ask?
Given her past endorsement of Bloc Québécois candidates while leading the Public Service Alliance of Canada, it was a legitimate question.
Turmel says her me membership in the Bloc — revealed in a published report Tuesday — became known to the party when she filled out a questionnaire before accepting the nomination in her riding.
But she was vague on whether Layton knew of her party membership.
This is not Bob Rae moving from the NDP to the Liberals, it is not David Emerson moving from the Liberals to the Conservatives, it is not Stephen Harper once advocating an Alberta firewall then becoming Prime Minister.
The Bloc is unlike any party, given its ultimate goal.
And if Turmel only turned in her Bloc party card this past January, then her relationship is still too fresh.
Even more damaging, she acknowledged Tuesday that she was still a member of Québec Solidaire, a left-wing provincial party that also advocates sovereignty.
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Clear evidence that the NDP will not hold opposition for more than one term.