Liberals Surrender Quebec

The Liberals thought they'd scored a home run against Stephen Harper by dragging out an old speech from 1997 and taking a few quotes out of context in hopes of resurrecting fears of the "hidden agenda", but it turns out that the great Liberal defenders of national unity have got one of their own, and it means writing off Quebec:

The Quebec wing of the Liberal Party accidentally released a list of ridings yesterday that shows it has written off a majority of seats in the province and conceded almost all of the francophone areas to the Bloc Québécois.

The gaffe left the Liberals red-faced, given that they have characterized the election as a referendum on Canadian unity. The election results could prove to be an embarrassment if, as the list suggests, the Liberals have little hope of winning 45 of the 75 seats in Quebec.

So much for the Liberals' claim that only they can defend federalism in Quebec. Ontario voters have been buying the lie for years that only the Grits can keep Quebec in Canada. This leaked e-mail is a damaging admission of the lie's emptiness; not even the Liberals pretend to believe it anymore.

No one can defend federalism in Quebec anymore with any credibility. Forty-five safe Bloc seats, and not a single safe or re-electable Liberal seat outside the island of Montreal, is iron-clad proof.

Source: Globe and Mail