Vote separatist to stop the separatist

CP:

Labour leader Buzz Hargrove says Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's attitude toward the provinces is essentially a separatist approach.

"If you devolve all the powers to the provinces, what do you have left? His view of the country is a separatist view," Hargrove said as he campaigned alongside Paul Martin.

Okayyy. So far, so over-the-top. But then:

He said Quebec voters should choose the Bloc Quebecois over the Conservatives.

"Anything to stop the Tories."

That's, I don't know, it's not even crazy. It's just dada. POSTSCRIPT: I wonder what Paul Martin thinks of his new running mate's logic? BONUS: It seems this isn't the first time Buzz has pimped for the Bloc...

The New Democratic Party should leave Quebec to the Bloc Quebecois and work with the sovereigntist party in the House of Commons in a leftist alliance, the head of the Canadian Auto Workers said Friday.

AND MORE:

The Canadian Auto Workers, led by Buzz Hargrove, will back the Bloc Quebecois in Quebec instead of the New Democrats, because of the separatist party's fight for workers' rights in Parliament, says the head of the union's Quebec wing. [...] "Buzz has never hidden the fact that he would meet with the Bloc Quebecois, that he had the support of the Bloc." Desnoyers [head of CAW's Quebec wing] and a Bloc MP, who were in attendance, said Hargrove told the crowd of about 75 union members: "In Quebec, it's the Bloc, and in the rest of the country, it's the NDP."

But remember: Harper's the separatist. BONORUM: Apparently, Buzz also played the "Alberta" card, though I haven't seen it reported yet. Naturally, Martin wouldn't dream of saying such a thing. BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ: Here's CanWest's first take:

STRATHROY, Ont - Buzz Hargrove, Prime Minister Paul Martin's most influential supporter from the labor movement, overshadowed the Liberal leader Wednesday calling the Conservatives’ Stephen Harper a separatist. Hargrove, president of the Canadian Autoworkers Union, attended a Martin campaign event, where he endorsed the local Liberal candidates and then launched his eyebrow-raising assault. Among his messages: • Harper is a separatist because his plan to devolve powers would break up the country. • Quebecers, even supporters of the Bloc Quebecois, should do anything to stop Harper. • The Liberals appear poised to be reduced to third-party status. • NDP Leader Jack Layton has give Harper an easy ride. And finally, said Hargrove, Canadians should start probing who paid Harper's salary when he was a member of a "secret society" - the National Citizens Coalition - that wants to destroy social programs.

What I wonder is whether this was an experiment that went horribly awry. The "Alberta" thing sounded to me like a surrogacy strategy: get Buzz to say the dirty things Martin can't. But then the monster escaped from the lab.