If the Federal NDP with or without Jack Layton at the helm had anything better than the proverbial snowballs chance in hell of ever forming the government, last weeks "outing" of interim leader Nycole Turmel might be a concern.
As it stands, the revelation that she is a card-carrying member of the separatist Quebec Solidaire Party, and until January a full patch member of the Bloc Quebecois should come as no surprise.
The only surprise should be how the federal NDP executive and Jack Layton could be so inept as to select a separatist as their interim leader.
Only in a Canada where political correctness has been elevated to an art form, could the leader of her Majesty's Loyal Opposition be an opportunist intent on breaking up the country.
As Turmel stated in her letter requesting the cancellation of her membership in the Bloc Quebecois just seven months ago, "my request has nothing to do with the party's policies, I am doing this for personal reasons."
Dare we suggest those reasons were the lure of a spot on the NDP front bench and a fat Federal pay check down the road?
Her disclosure of her Bloc and Quebec Solidaire memberships on her NDP candidate questionnaire did not stop Layton or the party brass from appointing her Leader of the Opposition.
Another more prominent Quebec NDP Member of Parliament, Thomas Mulcair would have likely got the job, were it not for that recent nasty faux pas of him expressing doubts the U.S. had photos of a dead Osama bin Laden.
Where do they find these people?
While NDP support in Quebec is a mile wide and an inch deep and will no doubt disappear as quickly as it came with the next election, in the meantime it is totally unacceptable for Ms. Turmel to continue to fill the position of opposition leader.
Not only is it an affront to Canada to have a separatist as leader of the government in waiting, but it speaks volumes about the NDP's poor judgment and unsuitability to be taken seriously as a national party.
Turmel must resign.
-- Prince George Citizen
