21 Apr That Layton surge in Quebec

What to make of the Layton’s remarkable late-campaign surge in Quebec? Contrarian friend Richard Stephenson suggests an explanation:

We have been told repeatedly that the voters are tired of these frequent (and expensive) elections. I suspect many are tired of the stories the Bloq and the Liberals have been telling. Having voted consistently for the Bloq over the past decade, maybe the people of Quebec are tired of the story they’ve been sold, and are now looking for a Federalist party they can trust….

[T]he Liberal Party in Quebec is in disgrace because of the sponsorship scandal and the ongoing scandals in the construction industry. [Quebecers] cannot vote PC (too far right, too Alberta) and they do not want to vote Liberal or Bloq, so they have only the NDP and Layton left. It’s by no means certain that the voter in Quebec would recoil from supporting a small left wing party that has no hope of becoming the government. After all this describes the Bloq, doesn’t it?