Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet visited francophone communities in New Brunswick this week — the first visit by a Bloc leader to the officially bilingual province in 13 years. But he insists it’s not a sign the sovereigntist party is setting its sights beyond Quebec.
I don’t foresee the Bloc expanding, but I have sometimes mused that a confederate party in Canada would be quite successful. That is, a party that seeks to empower the provinces by reinforcing jurisdictional divisions (not to be confused with the American confederates from the Civil War). Such a party would be able to campaign on a super-grassroots level, saying that each local region knows best for itself, and that they will fight for the power to dictate their own affairs. It would be very populist.
Now, I’m not advocating for such a party. In fact, I think it would be incredibly destructive to our national unity and pit provinces against each other. (It would actually be a rather terrifying prospect, to me, at least.) That said, I think it would scoop up a ton of support. It would essentially be a Bloc Quebecois that advocates for each province.