To Steal A Doc Quote: Well DUH!!!

I guess it's time I chimed in on this one like I promised...

Jean's popularity slips after controversy: poll

It didn't take long and it's not over yet.

The controversy over Paul Martin's selection of CBC journalist Michaelle Jean as the next Governor General of Canada continues to oscillate from simmer to boil at seemingly every turn and it shows no sign of cooling.

The fact that she is visibly ethnic, fluently bilingual and a product of the Liberal sympathetic crown broadcasting corporation comes as little surprise to many. In fact, it was quite predictable for the Liberal Party. It's an ideological optic they were going for. But, just as predictable of this Liberal government, the move was another example of incompetance. Surely, had they done their homework, they would have known of Jean's history of cavorting with Quebec sovereigntists and the potential fallout that would result in the realm of public opinion.

And so it begins.

From CTV News and Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The debate over the governor general designate's commitment to Canada is taking a toll on the popularity of Michaelle Jean, a new poll suggests.

Decima Research found that support for the appointment by Prime Minister Paul Martin plunged more than 20 percentage points - from 59 per cent to 38 per cent - during a two-week period earlier this month. Between the two polls, Jean and her husband, Quebec film-maker Jean-Daniel Lafond, were compelled to publicly affirm their loyalty to Canada following allegations they were once known in Quebec cultural circles as sovereigntists.

Only days after the appointment, claims surfaced from hard-line separatists that she was truly sympathetic to their cause and not the cause of federalism in Quebec. As she and her filmmaker husband Jean-Daniel Lafond stayed mum about the allegations, waiting for the wind to take them, the proof came out of the pudding in the form of a 1994 NFB documentary shot by Lafond. In one scene, they are seen discussing sovereignty over drinks around a pub table and raising a toast with several hard-liners and former FLQ members.

It is, in fact, not the only instance of their association with the FLQ. Former terrorist Jacques Rose, a member of the Chénier cell of the FLQ that kidnapped and killed Quebec Labor and Immigration Minister Pierre Laporte in October of 1970, reportedly built a library in their home.

Now, the Front de Liberation du Quebec committed many terrorist acts throughout the sixties and early seventies in the name of Quebec's independance. I can be one to endorse freedom of expression and one's right to pursue their ideologies in a civil environment but their conduct was as heinous as it gets: murder and terror.

So, never mind the ideology issues regarding the next Governor General. She's free in this country to speak her mind much like we are to support or decry the Prime Minister's selection.

But, if you see her, ask her if she'd be inclined to have drinks with Al Qaeda anytime soon.