The Leader of the Opposition, Michael Ignatieff, made a statement last week that garnered little attention in the media. But it should have.
In complaining about the extra seats Ontario and the West will eventually realize as a result of the last census, he called for the current seat distribution between Quebec and the Rest of Canada to be maintained.
In doing so, Michael Ignatieff opposes one of the prime aspects of a free and democratic society, namely, representation by population.
In fact, I suspect if anyone took the time to do the math, Quebec's representation should decline from its current 75 seats to something in the neighbourhood of 60 seats.
The danger inherent in Ignatieff's position is that it leads to a demand on the part of Quebec that it have equal representation based upon is nation-state status, a status that even our Prime Minister has seen fit to acknowledge.
We are now well down the road in many respects to two separate and distinct nations within Canada and Ignatieff's recently stated position only furthers the divide.
As I see it.
"Galagher"
