than the Environics poll. Without Quebec the Liberals cannot win a majority, if not an election. So news that their membership in Quebec has collapsed is a harbinger of even worse things to come.
Whacked by the sponsorship scandal, the Liberal Party of Canada lost 75,000 members in two years in Quebec as the number of supporters reached its lowest level in a decade.The Quebec wing of the federal party has 25,000 members, compared with 100,000 in 2004. The low level represents only 5 per cent of the party's 500,000 members across the country, even though the province has 24 per cent of the Canadian population.
To be fair, a lot of that 100,000 were recent members, joining to get on board the Paul Martin juggernaut. But with campaign finance reform political parties are grass roots organizations and the Liberals need to figure out how to adjust to that. Hey, maybe MP Stronach was right!
Comments (2)
Right on Greg. It seems no Liberals have adjusted their thinking since Jan. 23rd.
There are only 3 ways back to power for the Liberals. 1. Waiting for the Conservatives to screw up badly. 2. Significant cooperation with the NDP or its voters. 3. Reclaim Trudeau’s mantle in Quebec.
The Quebec route is the easiest and quickest way to go. The Trudeau & Chretien model used to be very sucessful. Chretien won the leadership on an anti-Meech ticket. Martin’s position was a loser for the Liberals. They should become extreme anti-separatists, big central government statists, no distinct society status people. I don’t buy into that but there will always be a good third of the electorate in Quebec who do. 33% would triple the Liberal’s current support in Quebec.
The big bonus to this position is that there is a significant market for a party like this outside of Quebec. Ontario voters eat up this “Canada is #1” “Quebec will never leave Canada” stuff. Chretien played that song on his way to 3 majorities.
Stephen Dion is probably best positioned to play this role.
Posted by PlaidShirt | April 7, 2006 1:43 PM
Posted on April 7, 2006 13:43
You are correct, Stephane Dion is definately playing that role. But remember, Chretien had a divided right and then a crumbled opposition from the PCs in Quebec. Don’t count on it working so easy in the future.
I would love the Liberals to play the Ottawa knows best, big government statists.
Posted by Greg Staples | April 7, 2006 2:25 PM
Posted on April 7, 2006 14:25