Angry in the Great White North

Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, has his pick of bad news tonight.

First, the Parti Quebecois has crashed in Quebec, coming in third behind the centrist Liberals and the right-of-centre ADQ. So even though PQ leader Andre Boisclair is almost certainly out of a job, taking over the PQ must seem less like a dream come true. Who knows how long before the PQ can come back to power? Taking over a party relegated to the wilderness is the job of a caretaker leader -- not something Gilles Duceppe is looking for.

Second, given the PQ failure, the BQ as the federalist farm team is in a precarious position. Clearly Quebeckers are rejecting sovereignty, and that undermines the BQ position. And if there is an election soon, Gilles Duceppe might find himself following Andre Boisclair out into the political darkness.

Third, the PQ has lost to those right-wing ADQ nuts! I mean, Quebec defines progressivism in Canada, doesn't it? How can Quebeckers choose anything but a statist-socialist program?

And the worst part -- it all hits home. Gilles Duceppe's brother Claude was running for the PQ in the riding of Joliette. He lost to one of those free-market private-health-care-loving ADQ guys, Pascal Beaupre.

Adding insult to injury. But Gilles Duceppe has to be wondering, how do I make sure there is only one loser at the next Duceppe family gathering?