[Newsbot]

<strong>Filibuster Cartoon</strong>
<strong>Title: </strong> <a href="http://www.filibustercartoons.com/archive.php?id=20070516" target="_blank">I\'m going.. no wait</a> (click to view)
<strong>Date: </strong> May 16, 2007

A timeline: <br>May 8- Andre Boisclair the disastrously unsuccessful leader of the Parti Quebecois, who took his party from the brink of victory to third-place status in a few short months, announces his resignation. <br>May 11- federal Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe announces that he is going to return to Quebec and run to replace Boisclair. <br>May 12- Duceppe announces he is dropping out of the race. <br> <br>This extreme about-face in the course of a few hours stunned much of the Canadian political establishment. Mr. Duceppe had long been branded as a natural leader of the Parti Quebecois, and his return to local politics was widely anticipated. But evidently he worries about his popularity or competition... or something. It was a very bizarre move and it will likely be a while before we know the full story behind it.

[Kjorteo]

H. Ross Duceppe?

[fire_i]

Duceppe and Pauline Marois, currently the last remaining runner for PQ leadership, were expected not to run at the same time as they both not only hold extremely similar views, but also are friends. Pretty much everyone expected there'd be an unwritten, private deal between Duceppe and Marois stating that if one of them ran, the other would not. Shortly after Boisclair's demission, Duceppe declared he'd run - about 6 hours later, Marois did, too. IMO, Duceppe decided not to run simply because he didn't want confrontation with Marois. In that scenario, Duceppe could be blamed for not contacting Marois and making sure it was actually her intention not to run.

It's also possible that Marois and Duceppe DID talk to each other, but that both decided to run anyway until Duceppe realized it would be an outright bad idea. Or, maybe Marois decided to "break the pact", if there ever was any, forcing Duceppe to retire to avoid conflict (but that is extremely unlikely, for he'd have been pissed off instead of regretful). It's also not impossible that there was miscommunication between the two of them.

We'll prolly never really know, it could be something else entirely as well. Still, I believe what I stated in this post's first paragraph is the most likely possibility.