Although it is somewhat surprising, no one should really be shocked by the news that Gilles Duceppe is staying in Ottawa. As I said earlier in week, Duceppe has one of the easiest jobs in the world right now, right up there with “bed tester” and “Monte Solberg campaign manager”. All he needs to do is scream about Gomery and he’s guaranteed 60 seats in the next election. The man never has to take a difficult policy stand since he’s a federal politician who has no need or desire to make Canada work.

And I’ll repeat this since it bears repeating: Gilles Duceppe is only a fraction of the politician everyone believes him to be. He was a spent force in politics before the Sponsorship Scandal broke. Heck, the only French I know is “j’aime le fromage” and I could have swept Quebec as BQ leader last election. The PQ is a bloodthirsty party, something Lucien Bouchard found out after making a similar leap. And Quebec politics are very difficult, something Jean Charest has found out time and time again.