Gilles Duceppe Queers Any Chance of Arena Subsidy

Years ago, I met a young employee of mine while visiting one of the retail locations that I supervised in eastern Ontario. The young lady, who was no more than sixteen or seventeen, seemed remarkably happy to have a minimum wage, part-time job and I asked her why. She explained that her father was a Jehovah's Witness and for as long as she could remember he dragged her door to door like an ornament, trying to convince people to embrace the faith, hoping that the little girl would stop people from cursing him out and slamming the door in his face. Having a real job liberated her from this humiliating obligation and she was mightily pleased. Yikes!
When I asked her what drove her father to do what he does, in the face of so much hostility, she had but one word to offer- "Faith."
To her father, she explained,  it didn't matter haw many people slammed the door in his face or cursed him out, it was a mission of love, misguided or not.

Gilles Duceppe reminds me of this fellow. It doesn't matter how many people tell him he's an idiot, he merrily goes on his way, unperturbed, preaching the gospel of Quebec sovereignty to people who are as sorely annoyed with him as they are at those who ring their doorbell on a Sunday morning to preach the gospel of Jehovah.

Now, hot on the heels of his wildly successful trip across Canada (sarcasm,) he's announced that he's undertaking another similar trip to the USA and destinations afar. Ding dong!  LINK

It's hard to imagine what he intends to accomplish and after playing to empty halls across Canada, one can only imagine what his reception will be in the likes of Plano, Texas. 

No matter, Mr. Duceppe is the 'Jehovah's Witness' of the sovereignty movement and regardless of the rough reception he may receive, the obligation to proselytize is deeply seated and primal.

One can only stand back and watch with a morbid fascination, the scorn and disdain that he embraces in a pointless quest to convince the unconvincables.

I never realized to what extent his fantasy manifested itself until his suggestion this week that Stephen Harper help fund a new arena in Quebec City in  order to attract the return of an NHL franchise.

Now the idea, might make quite a bit of sense politically. Since Quebec City  is the last bastion of Conservative support in Quebec, an arena project can actually bring in an additional three or four seats and maintain what the Conservatives already hold in Quebec.
Hockey is that important.

But perhaps Gilles Duceppe should have read my "Opposite" piece to understand that in order to get Harper to support an arena project, he would have been better off to have argued against any federal participation. LINK

In spite of all the abuse he has heaped on Canadians, day in and day out, these past twenty years, he still believes that he can influence Stephen Harper and the Conservatives on behalf of Quebec.

Like all dreamers, Duceppe shrugs off negative criticism and Stephen Harper's mocking portrayal of him in the press, on the campaign trail and even in Parliament itself. As the saying goes, it is like 'water off a duck's back.'

Duceppe's fantasy is such that he has no idea that he has likely queered any chance of federal aid in relation to a new arena in Quebec City, because it would be seen in English Canada as pandering to Duceppe and the Quebec first lobby.

Wait! Perhaps that's what he wants and he's cleverly alienating Harper from Quebeckers?

Nah.....on second thought, he's not that smart, just deluded.