Thursday, April 9, 2009 06:04 PM
Duceppe's useful idiot
Norman Spector
I hate to describe Margaret Atwood as any kind of idiot, if only because, like her, I was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to do my PhD in the U.S.
But what other term fits a Canadian who would advise Quebeckers to vote for the Bloc Québécois—a party that wants to break up our country—in order to safeguard $45-million in funding?
I doubt that Ms. Atwood's words will have much of a political impact; few voters in ridings where the Conservatives and Bloc are fighting it out have likely heard of her. Still, her comment will resonate in intellectual circles, where many have likely forgotten that, two decades ago, the same Margaret Atwood said she could have supported the Meech Lake accord if only it had recognized Québec as a distinctive, rather than a distinct society.
This morning, as he peruses the headlines, Gilles Duceppe must be all smiles.
