Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Bloc part of secret coalition plot in 2000 with Canadian Alliance

A document obtained by The Globe and Mail shows that the scheme would have propelled then Alliance leader Stockwell Day to power in the coalition. A lawyer who was described then as being close to Day, says he didn't discuss the matter with the MPs

DANIEL LEBLANC

Globe and Mail Update

See proposal here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/v5/content/pdf/coalit.pdf

OTTAWA - The separatist Bloc Québécois was part of secret plotting in 2000 to join a formal coalition with the two parties that now make up Stephen Harper's government, according to documents obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The scheme, designed to propel current Conservative minister Stockwell Day to power, undermines the Harper government's line this week that it would never sign a deal like the current one between the Liberal Party, the NDP and the Bloc.

Bloc officials said that well-known Calgary lawyer Gerry Chipeur sent a written offer before the votes were counted on election day on Nov. 27, 2000.

According to prominent sovereigntist lawyer Eric Bédard, who received the proposal, Mr. Chipeur identified himself as being close to Mr. Day, the leader of the Canadian Alliance at the time.

"I never had the impression that I was involved in theoretical constitutional discussions," Mr. Bédard said, adding he had never met Mr. Chipeur before.

A Bloc official said the link between Mr. Chipeur and Mr. Bédard was facilitated by Rodrigue Biron, a former Parti Québécois minister who was part of the unite-the-right movement in the late 1990s.

James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Signed this 28th day of Novermber, 2000.

And where is it "signed?" Where are the signatures on the bottom of that proposal? I don't see any signatures. All I see are typed names with blank lines above them.

This "proposal" means absolutley nothing. Where is the proof that Day has seen this proposal, let alone signed it?