Delicious

Few things give me more amusement right now then watching Stephen Harper put his foot in his mouth and drive the Conservative party downwards to hopefully staggering lows in popularity. Today, Harper attacked Bill C-38 because of its support from the Bloc Quebecois.

"I think because this bill is only being passed with the support of the BQ, I think it will lack legitimacy with most Canadians. The truth is most federalist MPs will oppose this legislation," he said. "It's only a deal with the Bloc that's allowing it to pass."

Conservative justice critic Vic Toews said, "The federalist MPs in Canada, the majority of them, would oppose (gay marriage) on a free vote. So what we are seeing now is simply an agreement by this government with the separatist Bloc - who have no long-term interest in staying in Canada."

This is great. I imagine most Quebecois are deeply hurt by Harper’s claims that they deserve no say on federal matters. Harper is basically saying that Quebec deserves no voice in federal parliament as long as they keep voting for the Bloc. It’s a complete denial of the principle of democracy and the legitimacy of their vote.

I have no idea what he could have hoped to achieve by making this statement, as it seems obvious that it will (hopefully) rebound and subject him to all sorts of criticism. Even staunch supporters of the Conservatives can’t be happy with the notion that Quebec is meaningless and its representatives deserve no voice.

The best part is remembering whose support Harper relied on to try and overthrow the Liberal government during the budget vote. So, according to Harper, if he had defeated the Liberals on the May 19^th vote it would have been illegitimate because he had support from separatists who would obviously vote against the federal government. That’s exactly the conclusion that you have to draw from his statement because “most federalist MPs” voted with the government and the government would have been defeated “only with the support of the Bloc.” This whole situation is absolutely fantastic. Gay marriage could get legalised while Harper continues to drag the Conservatives down. It’s absolutely delicious.