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Saturday, November 07, 2009
The Action Democratique du Qubec is doomed
A couple weeks ago the ADQ membership elected a leader, Gilles Taillon , who is dedicated to moving the party more to the centre. The lesson of the turbulent rise and falls of the ADQ demonstrate one thing: the party is at its best when it is unabashedly conservative.
The next piece of news that came out of Quebec was that the ADQ was cutting ties with the federal Tories. These ties were once a source of pride for the ADQ party elite. It gave them credibility and resources that they otherwise lacked. Now they want to pursue a "Tory-free identity."
Finally yesterday, two out of six of their caucus members, including Tallion's main opponent Eric Claire, rebelled and are now sitting as independents. A party of this size simply can't afford this sort of internal strife. The Liberal Party of Canada has suffered defeats, in part, due to internal conflict far less vicious than this.
Eric Claire declared "This is no longer the party I worked for." He's right, the party he worked for had a chance of winning.
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 7, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
"The lesson of the turbulent rise and falls of the ADQ demonstrate one thing: the party is at its best when it is unabashedly conservative."
Nope. The lesson is that the ADQ is and always was nothing more than Mario Dumont's personal political party. Without him, they fell apart, much as countries do when their charismatic strongman leader dies.
Posted by: Fact Check | 2009-11-07 5:50:41 AM
The ADQ was a party without ideology devoted to built a "big tent".
This is what happen when a "conservative party" elected a "Dede Scozzafava" as a party leader.
Posted by: David Gagnon | 2009-11-07 7:36:32 PM
All parties, indeed all provinces and, better yet, countries, should pursue a "Tory-free identity."
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-11-08 12:32:25 AM
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