NDP in Turmoil over Turmel

Only a week has gone by since NDP leader Jack Layton stepped down to battle cancer and his hand-picked replacement is already facing a storm of controversy. An article in Tuesday’s Globe and Mail produced documents showing that Nycole Turmel, the party’s newly ensconced interim leader, was a card-carrying member of the separatist Bloc Québécois for four years, resigning just one month before she ran for the NDP in Hull-Alymer. Why the NDP, always a fiercely federalist party, chose a rookie MP with separatist ties to fill the role of interim leader is anyone’s guess. No doubt party faithful are praying even harder that Jack makes a full recovery and is back in the saddle when Parliament resumes in September.

– Peter Muggeridge