Winnipeg Sun | 14Jul2010 | Orest Slepokura
http://www.winnipegsun.com/comment/letters/2010/07/13/14703736.html

Bloc a force

Re: ‘Traitors in our midst,’ Michael Coren, July 10, 2010.

Were the separatist Bloc Quebecois a mere fringe party, its members would be denounced as traitorous dogs. But with 48 seats -- a dozen more than fourth place NDP -- the Bloc, like it or not, is a major parliamentary player, the reason Canada is again likely to be saddled with a minority government in the next election cycle. Fearful of alienating Quebec voters, political rivals in the other parties are careful to draw in their horns on the loyalty issue, even as a Bloc MP vents about “traitors to the nation.” The Roman poet Ovid captured this paradox with his timeless verse: “Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason? Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”

Orest Slepokura
Strathmore, Alta.

(As long as they’re around, minority all the time.)