We finally found out the difference between millionaire Pierre Karl Pèladeau and billionaire Donald Trump. As leader of the separatist Parti Quèbècois, Pierre Karl realized he was a square peg in a round hole. There was nowhere he could take the Quebec separatist party but downhill skiing. Conversely Donald Trump still thinks he is God’s gift to America’s Republican Party, and its Tea Party crazies.
But the revelation for Pierre Karl was in his bed. It sounds like his, maybe, wife Julie Synder has finally gotten through to him. It sounds like it was a choice between her and their two kids or Quebec politics. Which did he want?
It seems he has made a wise choice.
Pèladeau had to realize after the past year at the helm of the late Renè Lèvesque’s party, he had nowhere to go and few of the separatists really wanted to follow him. He was never comfortable with the left-wing leanings of his purported followers and they were certainly never too sure about him. His reputation in business had been very right-wing and his relations with organized labour were less than friendly.
But he thought it would be easy to bring the party along and maybe change its direction more to his thinking. He had as much chance of that as of convincing Julie—his wife of less than a year—of staying at home looking after the kids while he spent days on end at the National Assembly in Quebec City and in travelling around the province trying rebuild a crumbling party.
There is also the thought that Pierre Karl wanted to return to the thrill of managing his media empire. While his Sun Media English-language chain has been sold off, he still has the largest circulation print media in the province (le Journal de Montrèal) and the French-language TVA television network. These are fascinating toys for any business person and he has probably been missing them.
Donald Trump on the other hand has no real business empire to run as the properties and hotels with his name on them are easier to understand if you think of them as franchises. In his business you build the building for the least possible and sell it for the most possible. You get your money and run. And that is not a good analogy to being President of the United States.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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