The Thing About Whatzisname....

...is that, when not backing a racist waste of skin like Mark Steyn, he (occasionally) has a point.

(He can supposedly run a war room pretty well too, although baiting fundamentalists isn't exactly a new thing for him, so he was a good choice for that Ontario thing.)

The legislation in Quebec is indeed odious, forcing all elected officials to be French speakers, even in parts of Quebec that are dominated by English-Speaking Quebeckers. (Yes, they exist. Generally in Montreal.) It's definitely worth opposition.

Not only is this legislation borderline unconstitutional, but it's actually received a wee bit of criticism, even among the sometimes famously nationalistic French-speaking Quebeckers. Not surprising, and a credit to the Quebeckers. What is surprising is that the only response from the Government has been a single comment by their House leader, Peter Van Loan.

Now, let's dwell on that for a minute.The NDP and Liberals have been quick to criticize, and the criticism is coming from party leaders and significant MPs in Quebec. The Tories? Just Van Loan, a non-Quebecker. Stephen Harper, on the other hand, doesn't breathe a word. Stephen Harper dictates the positions of everyone in the party. He IS the party. He holds more power than Dick Cheney did at his prime. And he says nothing? Nor, in fact, do any of his Quebec MPs?

Van Loan can claim to speak for the Government, but let's be honest- if nobody from Quebec is openly opposing it, Harper is praising with faint damnation.

Kinsella said that this was an issue that Dion could use against Harper. Even if Kinsella backed away from this based on a single non-Quebecker's statement of opposition, he wasn't wrong. Dion needs to burnish his federalist cred and remind Quebeckers of why federalism is important and how the Conservatives are willing to sell out to hardcore nationalists at a moment's notice?

Well, here's the issue.

Go nuts, Stephane.

Edit: Perhaps not so xenophobic after all? Not Stephen, of course, but the Quebec National Assembly, which is apparently none too pleased with the bill and likely to just shut it down. Good news.