Parsing the cabinet on the by-elections

All day long, in a corner office on the third floor of the west wing of the House of Commons Centre Block, the federal cabinet and its committees have been meeting today. I spent much of the day hanging out in the House of Commons foyer or near the door cabinet members use to exit the building and managed to pidgeonhole a few ministers for their thoughts on last night's election.

My colleague Robert Fife, incidentally, was tracking down Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and politicians from other parties today. He'll have a round-up of reaction and fallout on tonight's national news.

Here's some of the comments, then, from cabinet members about the Conservative landslide in what had been the Bloc Quebecois stronghold of Roberval-Lac St. Jean; the strong Conservative showing in Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot and the NDP's decimation of the Liberals in Outremont, a riding the Liberals had held since 1935.

“As for Mr. Dion it's got to be a devastating outcome,” said Defence Minister Peter MacKay. He was the only minister to offer a critique of the Liberal leader. Others, even when asked directly about suggestions that Quebeckers seemed to have rejected both Mr. Dion and Mr. Duceppe as leaders, declined to comment, offering up comments instead on their own leader's virtues.

“Let's just say we're very happy with the result and other parties and party leaders can sort through the rubble and come to their own conclusions,” MacKay said. “It's an indication that Quebeckers are at least satisfied and I would suggest quite taken with the direction the Prime Minister is taking the country, his presence in Quebec, [and] his policies that speak to Quebec.

Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl: “Well, I thought it was a good night, obviously, for the Conservatives. By-elections are just a snapshot in time but that snapshot today looks like the Conservatives are doing very well in Quebec and I think Mr. Dion's message of a bigger more centralized government is going to be a tough sell.”

Strahl said the cabinet meetings today opened with an acknowledgement of electoral success in Quebec. “There was an awful lot of smiles when we got together today. A lot of congratulations for the Quebec team that worked hard on those by-elections.”

Treasury Board President Vic Toews, who represents the Manitoba riding of Provencher, a riding where about 20 per cent of voters are French-speaking: “It's great! Great. We're very excited about the by-election results. To me it demonstrates what I already knew: that our party can speak to the Francophone vote not just in Quebec but right across Canada.”

Toews, like many ministers I stopped, were not over-the-top with the accomplishment, mostly because they recognized that for all the success in the “regions” of Quebec, electoral success still eludes them on the island of Montreal. Still, Toews, had a warning for the NDP's Thomas Mulcair: “If I was Mr. Mulcair, I wouldn't think that that seat was that secure for the NDP because the Conservatives are going to take it next time.

And finally, there is Jean-Pierre Blackburn, the Labour Minister, who was also an upset winner in Bloc country in the last general election. Running in Jonquiere-Alma, where Conservatives had won just 4 per cent of the vote in 2004, Blackburn steamrolled over the Bloc with 52 per cent of the vote in 2006. And for the last several weeks he has been a constant presence in Roberval-Lac St. Jean, which is next to his riding, working to support Denis Lebel, who won yesterday with 60 per cent.

“The person who needs the congratulations is Denis Lebel. He worked very hard. He's a very kind person and he knows so many people in this riding of Roberval-Lac St. Jean. I think he obtained what he worked for.”

Blackburn, too, declined comment on either Duceppe or Dion and their perceived failings as leaders of the Bloc Quebecois and Liberal Party, respectively. “Maybe it's because [Quebeckers] like the way we work. I think Mr. Harper is doing great work in Quebec. He's a serious person. He does what he says. The Tory government is taking inroads in the regions of Quebec and we took one more yesterday.”

Look for Blackburn's stock to rise as a result of Lebel's victory. While Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon is the political minister for Quebec, Conservative caucus sources tell me that Blackburn is easily the most popular among the 10-member Quebec Conservative caucus and has now shown that he can clobber the BQ.