For four years Nycole Turmel was a member of the Bloc Québécois, having severed these ties just a few weeks before deciding to run for the NDP, the party she now leads. And last we heard, Turmel’s Québec Solidaire membership card is still in her pocket.

Membership in two sovereignist political parties by the person who fulfils the important duties of Leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons raises two fundamental questions.

First: in a democracy, is it acceptable for a parliamentarian or candidate to hide his or her political history?

Second: to be an NDP candidate or Member of Parliament representing a federalist party, is it sufficient to support that party’s social agenda? Are their flag bearers not also supposed to believe in Canada?

The transparency issue: In a democracy, every citizen has the right to change allegiances. But a candidate for election should not hide such a change, especially when it is recent. In that regard, Turmel has been less than transparent.

It has been said that her secretiveness is a problem in the “rest of Canada,” but somehow not in Quebec. I disagree: it is particularly with Quebecers that Turmel has been dishonest. As a candidate in Hull-Aylmer, a Quebec riding, she hid her past, first and foremost, from Quebecers.

During and after the last campaign, Turmel was asked repeatedly about the support she had given Bloc candidates when she was a union leader. At that time she was presented with an opportunity to reveal her past membership in the Bloc, and her ongoing membership in Québec Solidaire. But she did not. That information only became public as a result of a reporter’s investigation, and that is completely unacceptable.

I respect those Quebecers who voice their support for independence. I believe they are seriously mistaken in wanting to separate from Canada, but I nonetheless respect their opinion.

What I cannot accept are elected officials who hide their political past from voters.

The Canadian unity issue: Turmel’s judgment has to be questioned. It is one thing to vote for the Bloc as a private individual without being a sovereignist; it is something else entirely to buy a membership in a party whose primary objective is to separate Quebec from Canada. Turmel says she was attracted to the Bloc’s social program. Did she, and does she still, believe that the Bloc’s social program is better than that of the NDP — a party that also runs candidates in Quebec?

She says she became a Bloc member because one of her friends was a Bloc MP, but what does friendship have to do with political affiliation? We all have friends with different allegiances: do we have to become card-carrying members of their parties to prove our friendship?

Of course, it is possible to work with the Bloc on specific issues. I was able to work with Gilles Duceppe when, as opposition party leaders, we saw opportunities to work in the interest of the common good. But it is something else entirely to adhere to a separatist party when you believe in a united Canada.

The NDP is now left with only one choice: it must opt for transparency. How many NDP MPs were, or still are, members of sovereignist parties? Will they remain so? How many would vote for independence if a referendum were held?

To these questions, the NDP leadership responds that it is common knowledge that their party is federalist. That’s not good enough. They need to defend a belief in a united Canada, and demand the same from their candidates and Members of Parliament.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

If the NDP’s view is that their caucus is a team of social activists who are free to disagree on Canadian unity, they should say so, in both official languages. They claim to want to become the government of Canada. Before they can earn that privilege they must be upfront with Canadians on what their members — and potential ministers — believe, stand for and are prepared to defend.

Stéphane Dion, a Liberal, is the Member of Parliament for Saint-Laurent-Cartierville riding in Montreal.

Read more about: