New NDP Leader was Bloc Member Until January

Just like much of the rest of the Quebec electorate, Nycole Turmel hitched herself up to the new kid in town just in time for the election.

Nycole Turmel, the newly appointed interim leader of the NDP, was a card-carrying member of the Bloc Québécois up until January of this year. Turmel bought her membership in 2006 to support a friend and donated a total of $235 between then and 2011. Turmel says she supported the Bloc's social policies but remained a federalist, which is somewhat understandable considering it was the only sincerely leftist option in Quebec until the NDP wiped it off the face of the planet on May 2. Regardless, should Turmel stick around in the leadership role longer than the two months envisioned by Jack Layton, you can guarantee her Bloc affiliations will be hurled at her as proof that she doesn't have the interest of all Canadians at heart, that she's a separatist socialist, that she only joined the NDP when it became cool, that she doesn't care about the NDP's English-speaking base, etc., etc. You can practically write this stuff before it even happens.