This Summer's Blockbuster Hit

It seems every summer, one political story comes out of nowhere to dominate the headlines. After all, pundits need something to pontificate on, a task that has grown more challenging with the next election four years away.

Last summer's break-out hit was the Census. No one saw it coming as an issue, but it grabbed headlines week after week. Every Tony Clement tweet generated a dozen stories.

This summer's star is, without a doubt, Nycole Turmel. A complete unknown a month ago, Turmel has been on the front pages every day for the past two weeks, and the story shows no signs of dying.

Amongst today's developments, the always restrained Pat Martin has compared this to McCarthyism and, to a certain extent, he has a point. If you dig through every MP's history, all parties will have members connected to the sovereignist movement in some capacity - after all, Jean Lapierre was a co-founder of the Bloc and Georges Laraque once shared a hot dog with Gilles Duceppe.

However...if we take Martin's analogy one step further, can you imagine the uproar if the Democrats tried to nominate a card carrying Communist as their leader back in the 50s? Even if said Democrat had only purchased the card to support a friend?

Party leaders should be held to a higher standard than back bench MPs, and the timeframe matters. The only people running a McCarthy witch-hunt are the NDP, who have gleefully pointed out Denis Lebel's 2001 BQ membership.

While I don't want to get into the habit of defending Tory Cabinet Ministers, Lebel hasn't been with the Bloc for a decade. Surely there comes a point when we agree someone has changed, oui? I suspect that point falls somewhere between "gave up BQ membership 6 months ago but still member of Quebec Solidaire" and "switched parties back when people still listened to 'N Synch".

Like the Census issue last summer, this is a legitimate story, even if it doesn't move any votes. The explanations offered by Turmel have been lacking, and were only offered after it became an issue. Because of this, like it or not, we're going to hear a lot more about Nycole Turmel before the summer is over.

Welcome to the official opposition...

...and all the anonymous news reports that come with it:

NDP 'unease' surrounds Turmel's Bloc secrecy

There's a serious unease in the NDP over interim leader Nycole Turmel's memberships in two Quebec sovereigntist parties, a party staffer said Thursday.

The staffer, speaking anonymously to RDI's La période des questions, said it shows a lack of integrity that Turmel held memberships in the Bloc Québécois for four years — until weeks before she announced her NDP candidacy — and in provincial party Québec Solidaire until Tuesday.

RDI, CBC/Radio-Canada's French-language news channel, confirmed the staffer works for the NDP but agreed not to name him.

These leaks shouldn't be treated any more seriously than "senior Liberal insider" stories, but expect to see more of them now that the NDP have hit the big time - especially if the party finds itself in a leadership race.

Turmel Turmoil

We all knew the NDP’s flirtation with the separatists would emerge as an issue at some point during the 41st Parliament. I just don’t think anyone expected it to move to the forefront quite so rapidly:

Interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel says she's a federalist, despite having had links to two sovereigntist parties and being a member of one as recently as Tuesday.

Just days after being named interim NDP leader, Turmel found herself on the defensive and explaining her involvement with parties other than the one she was elected to represent on May 2. NDP Leader Jack Layton is taking time off to battle cancer and he hand-picked Turmel to replace him.

Turmel held a membership with the Bloc Québécois until January of this year, and also held a membership in the left-wing, pro-sovereignty provincial party Québec Solidaire until Tuesday.

Turmel's side of the story is that she only bought the BQ membership to support a friend, Bloc MP Carole Lavallée (since wiped out in the orange wave). Presumably, each of the four times she renewed her membership, it was to support her friend. Presumably, the four financial donations she made to the Bloc over the years were in support of her friend. It does not sound like her Quebec Solidaire membership was to support a friend - rather, she joined them for policy reasons that had nothing to do with sovereignty.

That explanation will likely satisfy the majority of Quebecers - after all, most of them switched their allegiance from the Bloc to the NDP 4 short months after Turmel did.

Other Canadians may be less forgiving. As Rob Silver points out, the Bloc is not like other political parties. Its raison d'etre is Quebec independence - go buy a BQ membership online and it says right there: "devenir membre du Bloc Québécois, c’est soutenir activement le plus noble des objectifs, celui de se donner un pays" [google translation: "Vive le Quebec Libre!"].

For most voters, the Bloc is a separatist party and if you're a member, you're a separatist. Point finale. That's why Harper got so much traction by repeatedly screaming at the Bloc bogeyman during the coalition crisis. That's why most voters will feel a bit uneasy when Turmel says quitting the Bloc "had nothing to do with the party's policies".

Now, no one knew who Nycole Turmel was four weeks ago, and no one will care about her past four years from now when we head back to the polls. But it's yet another example of the close ties between the NDP and the separatist movement, something which could explode to the forefront should the PQ form government in Quebec. Or Turmel's old party, Quebec Solidaire, for that matter.

"If I have tried to bring anything to federal politics, it is the idea that hope and optimism should be at their heart"

Very sad news today, with Jack Layton announcing he is now battling a new form of cancer.

He will be taking a leave of absence as party leader to focus on getting health, and has recommended that Nycole Turmel take over as interim leader.