Day is night: official

So you thought Lawrence Cannon’s attempt to explain just who’s a Québécois was pathetic? Get a load of these three trained seals on Don Newman's Politics brooaaaadcast. Newman patiently asks each of them in turn just who they had in mind when they voted to recognize “the Québécois” as a nation. Not one of them even pretends to answer. It's just embarrassing: Ruby Dhalla in particular sounds like a wind-up toy. Only when the Bloquiste arrives on the scene do we get an answer -- a lie, mind you (it’s a territorial nation, a civic nation, she purrs, as if the Bloc were so intent on building a pluralist, multiracial society that they had to tear apart the world’s most successful living example), but an answer all the same. As for Conservative cabinet minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn, he has an answer: it’s whoever the sovereigntists say it is. There's leadership for you. And while these statesmen were voting 216-16 to recognize ... whatever it is they voted to recognize, what do the people they claim to represent think of the idea? They’re against it. Overwhelmingly. Asked by Leger “do you personally consider that Quebecers form a nation” -- a reasonable interpretation of the actual resolution, though not by any means the only one -- fully 77% of Canadians said no. That’s noteworthy -- you can't get 77% of Canadians to agree on the time of day -- but not out of line with previous polls. What’s truly remarkable is the breakdown. Virtually every region or language group, no matter how you slice them, rejects the idea. 62% of anglophones inside Quebec. 77% of francophones outside Quebec. And so on. The one exception: francophone Quebecers -- and even there 3 in 10 disagree. Another group opposed: Liberals. 72% of Liberal supporters do not consider Quebecers a nation. Yet Lucienne Robillard can confidently assert -- without a vote -- that a majority of Liberals are in favour. It's just spooky: like being in the court of the Bourbon kings. Or like the wall of denial that surrounded the Meech Lake accord, every day for three years. UPDATE: Ottawa, Charest at odds on meaning of 'Québécois' (G&M). What a travesty...