It's the pause that refreshes in the corridors of power
When top men need a top up well before the happy hour
Your eyeballs feel like pinballs
And your tongue feels like a fish
You’re leaping from the windows-saying don’t
Ayaiiiiirrrghhh! *@!!*@!!*!
Don’t give me none of this!
--The Clash, from Koka Kola
Well, it's been a lovely blog-free week, but all good things must come to pass, thanks to Andre Boisclair. Just as the polls showed him to be way out ahead of the pack vying for leadership of the Parti Quebecois, he has had to admit to snorting nose candy while he was in Bouchard's cabinet (he skated around a point-blank question of whether he used coke and wouldn't deny using it, saying he "consumed").
Now I am not one to get in the way of the PQ pointing a gun "dans sa bouche", but I have to say that the reporters who are on him ought not let him get off the hook with the old "youthful indiscretion" excuse.
While Clinton allowed for the possibility he held his breathe rather than enjoy a little doobie as a student, there is a marked difference between that and flying high on white powder whilst you are a cabinet-level minister. If Boisclair couldn't take that job seriously enough to obey the law, surely cognizant that the stuff he was sniffing had bloody underworld fingerprints all over it, how can he now expect Quebeckers to take him seriously as a potential premier?
While the Public Security minister of the day (and the barely constrained Surete du Quebec) were busy going after the Hell's Angels and other organized crime, Boisclair was busy being their client. What's more, he didn't say a word about his criminal behaviour for years. How, as Premier, could he possibly let one cocaine user (or gang member trafficking that and lesser evils) face prosecution under his watch? How can he (and whomever he names as his Public Sercurity minister) have the respect of the SQ leadership? Judging from Boisclair's miffed reactions in front of the press's scrutiny, he hasn't really yet grasped the magnitude of this blunder. This is no small knock against his credibility.
If the PQ is stupid enough to anoint Boisclair, they are giving Charest an opening that even someone at less than 20% support can use to coast to a second term, no matter how many unions hate his guts.
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4 comments:
Joe Strummer is missed. Hey if a coke snorting irresponsible brat can be President??
I think you are right about the message this sends -- the use MIGHT be forgiven, but the "who cares" attitude will not be.
Who cares about snorting cocaine if you live in Canada ? This coutry let everyone do whatever they want: " As long as it is non-violent". It is really sad how much Canada and Quebec are becoming one of those corrupted country, where bribery becomes well accepted and tolerated. Canadians will let a party that is almost conviced of fraud against it's own citizens... Why then not leave the guy alone and let him run the province, or eventually the country even though "he consume". To those questionning his affiliations with the bikers since he must have bought the drug somewhere, I will question them about how many contracts and laundering activities are related to other political members.
Thanks for stopping by Jason. I'd like to point out though, that the Adscam (which is what I think you're referring to) only involved the federal Liberal Party, and the provincial party under Charest has suffered no such allegations to date. It's unclear whether the counter-argument you propose for Boisclair would be very effective.
I would hope Quebec and Canada haven't entirely cornered the market in corruption and bribery, but lord knows it does rear its ugly head here more often than I would surely like to see.
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