Quebec lefty lifts NDP

Quebec lefty lifts NDP

By STEPHANIE RUBEC -- Toronto Sun Dec 11

MONTREAL -- The NDP is pinning its hopes in Quebec on an outspoken media darling who has succeeded at the impossible task of spicing up the dry fare of economics and the ho-hum election.

Leo-Paul Lauzon, arguably the most recognized and eccentric accountant and university professor in Quebec, is often compared to that crazy uncle who embarrasses everyone with his heated rants and off-the-wall comments, which he punctuates with French expletives.

But Lauzon's outrageousness also means he's one of the few federal candidates invited on Quebec TV news and talk shows.

...

"The future is on the left," declared Lauzon in an interview, joking that he's only a star in the eyes of his mother.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/CanadaVotes/2005/12/11/1348360-sun.html

NDP candidate decries privatization of oil and gas industry

CBC, Dec 7 2005

A Quebec NDP candidate is offering praise for Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and says the Canadian government should run Air Canada, CN Rail and the oil and gas industry.

Léo-Paul Lauzon, a university economics professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal known for his left-wing views, said Canada should never have privatized those national commodities. He also said the country should never have let private companies take over the energy sector.

...

Lauzon was asked if he thought Chavez was an example Canada should look to. Supporters praise Chavez for spending oil revenues on popular social programs for the poor. But critics say Chavez uses Venezuela's state-run oil industry as a political tool and has become increasingly authoritarian.

"Yes, it's a good example and I'm not ashamed to say it. The same thing with Fidel Castro. Look what they did, you know for the population," Lauzon said.

http://www.cbc.ca/montreal/story/qc-lauzon20051207.html

And what's so outrageous about him? Well, they don't really say. I guess they figure it will be too difficult for their readers to understand.

The CBC story is fair and informative.