Gilles Duceppe

[Doc Holliday]

Harper sounded like he wanted to throw some bones to Charest in such a way as to appease the separatists, that's basically what I was hearing from him. When Van Husen pressed Harper as to whether he was changing his tune from past policies he had enunciated, Harper said that his position on Quebec had "evolved" over time. He struck me as a very smart man who can think on his feet.

The Quebec separatists hate Charest and the governing Liberal party. The separatists support the provincial Parti Quebecois (PQ), which came into power in 1976 under the leadership of separatist legend Rene Levesque, possibly the most famous politician in the history of Quebec politics (along with Maurice Duplessis of the Union Nationale). The separatists are also represented at the federal level by the Bloc Quebecois, led by popular charismatic leader Gilles Duceppe, whose father was acting icon Jean Duceppe.

This election will be Harper's last hurrah. Though he has many qualities as a leader, he also has many faults and the party will be showing him the door once these elections are over (if, as expected, the Liberals win the elections once again).