Andre Bachand is the new Conservative candidate for Sherbrooke, now held by a BQ MP. You might remember him. Bachand is the former Progressive Conservative MP who quit politics when the Canadian Alliance and the PC Party merged under Stephen Harper.
He denounced the new party as too right-wing, and said he believed its Reform/Canadian Alliance roots carried a "hidden agenda" on women's rights, Quebec and gay and lesbian rights.
But today, Bachand admits flatly, "I was wrong."
He says under Harper, the party has moved to the centre and is not a threat to any of those groups. He was thrilled by the recognition of Quebecois as a "nation."
In the interim, Bachand watched from his post as Quebec's representative in Ottawa, working for Quebec Liberal Premier Jean Charest, once a federal PC minister and leader.
Bachand shrugs off the new spat over cultural funding that erupted between Harper and Charest in Quebec today. He said he knows the two personally get along well and have a good relationship.
"Each of them has their own political agenda, their electoral program. Between you and me, they get along well. Mr. Charest is not (Danny) Williams."
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