NATHAN CULLEN says his French is pretty good.
It had better be because the re-elected New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for Skeena - Bulkley Valley now sits in a caucus where the majority of his fellow Parliamentarians come from the province of Quebec.
The rousing defeat of the Bloc Quebecois May 2 was a marvelous thing for Canada. Gone is the spectacle of being forced to pay people upwards of $157,000 a year so they can work to split up the country.
Now the New Democrats face the challenge of how to reflect the interests of people from Quebec within the federal structure of the country.
The New Democrats need to do so politically if they want to build on their election victory and they need to do so as the major federal party within Quebec to stop a separatist revival.
Mr. Cullen’s victory came from his position that politics is personal at its heart, building and creating relationships. It’s been a successful approach for Mr. Cullen who has now won four straight terms.
The plan to pair up rookie Quebec NDP MPs with more experienced NDP ones from the rest of the country has merit. We might learn something about Quebec and vice versa.
Think of it as building on an already successful BC-Quebec relationship – the Montreal Canadiens goalie is Carey Price and he’s from the Cariboo.
This editorial appears in the May 11 print edition of The Terrace Standard.