Les rapports de leur mort ont été grandement exagérées

Daniel Paillé, the man Stephen Harper trusted to investigate the Liberal Party, is the new leader of the Bloc Quebecois. However, the media attention has not been on Paillé, but on the anemic total of 14,000 who bothered to vote in the leadership contest.

It's certainly not a number to get excited about. After all, over 48,000 Bloquists voted in 1997, when Gilles Duceppe won on the second ballot.

Still, before we draft the Bloc obituaries, let's recall that the NDP juggernaut had under 6,000 Quebec members last time we checked. So it's far from certain that more Quebecers will vote for the next leader of the opposition than just voted for the new leader of the fourth place party.

And if memory serves me, neither the 2006 Liberal leadership race nor the 2004 CPC leadership race generated a ton of excitement in Quebec. In both contests, many ridings were won with 2 or 3 votes.

So yes, 14,000 voters is a pitoyable total for the Bloc. But even in their darkest hour, they may still be able to generate more interest than any of the three federalist parties. Let's not dismiss them as a spent force.

What happens when you throw a leadership contest and no one shows up?

Maybe Nycole Turmel has a friend who'd be willing to step in and help the Bloc out:

Bloc faces growing pressure to delay choosing Duceppe replacement

There is growing pressure within the Bloc Québécois to delay choosing a permanent successor to former leader Gilles Duceppe.

The leading contender to replace Mr. Duceppe has told a Montreal newspaper he is dropping out of the contest, saying the party needs more time to reflect on its losses in the last election.

Former MP Pierre Paquette had been the first to declare his intention to run for the party's leadership, but now says the Bloc hasn't thought hard enough about what happened May 2.

Current Bloc MP Maria Mourani agrees that the timeline to find Mr. Duceppe's replacement is too tight.

It used to be said that Gilles Duceppe had the easiest job in Ottawa. He got up, demanded more money for Quebec, sat down, and collected his government of Canada pension. Nothing to it. Fifty seats every election, guaranteed.

Now, there doesn't appear to be a single person out there who wants to job.

Found in Translation

The new Bloc Quebecois slogan translates to “Here for Quebec”. Not bad. It’s no “un parti proper au Quebec” (one of the greatest slogans ever) but it’s passable.

However, rather than translate, I’d stick with the French original in English because it works oh so well: “Présent pour le Québec”. An Anglo looking at that and seeing “present for Quebec” would be forgiven for believing the Bloc had just launched the most brutally honest slogan in the history of Canadian politics.