Stephane Dion is trying to downplay the rise of the right-of-centre ADQ in Quebec:
The federal Liberals need not be worried about the recent surge in support for the right-leaning Action democratique du Quebec, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said on Tuesday.
The ADQ jumped from five to 41 seats in last month's provincial election, thrusting them past the Parti Quebecois to form the official Opposition.
But Dion brushed aside concerns that the ADQ's rise is a bad omen for the Liberals, insisting the party simply capitalized on widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo.
"The votes for (ADQ Leader Mario) Mr. Dumont were in a large part protest votes," Dion said at a party nomination meeting in the Quebec City-area riding held by International Co-operation Minister Josee Verner.
But doesn't that protest against the provincial Liberals mean that the federal Liberals might also be in trouble?
"Quebecers, we are very sophisticated," he said. "When we vote federally, we don't vote for the same reasons as we do provincially."
What the...? He's done this before. Three weeks ago, in fact, when suggesting that Stephen Harper, born in Ontario and having spent many years in Alberta, lacks sophistication because he isn't a Quebecker:
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said yesterday he had no doubt Harper was spoiling for an election, but he warned there are perils in trying to play both provincial and federal politics.
"Quebecers are very politically sophisticated and we can tell the difference between what's at stake at the provincial level and what's at stake at the federal level," Dion said, repeatedly using "we" when he talked of Quebec, to underline the difference between himself and the Alberta MP who is prime minister.
That's twice in three weeks that Stephane Dion has sent a warning to Stephen Harper that Quebecers are too sophisticated to be counted on to vote in a particular way, the suggestion being that Stephen Harper's plans is based on a lack of cleverness that he'll only find in Canadians not from Quebec.
Is anyone going to call him out on this?
