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.