The newly minted senator is not, alas, the beloved Quebecois songwriter behind the cult hit video from the last election, “Culture en peril” - but another Michel Rivard — former Parti Quebecois (!) MNA circa 1994-1998, who has apparently since been won over by the subtle charms of federalism. (Despite the near impossibility in Googling the non-musical Rivard, it’s safe to say this probably isn’t a case of life imitating that episode of Yes, Prime Minister with the name-colliding Rons Joneses.)
Oh, and just in case anyone was worried that Rivard’s former Piquisteness might inadvertantly put the PM in an awkward situation after he repeatedly suggested that a Liberal-NDP government might appoint separatists to the Senate, fear not: the official announcement of the new senators notes that “each incoming Senator has also declared his or her unwavering commitment to support Canadian unity and oppose the coalition.”
UPDATE: As pointed out by a reader with a far better memory than ITQ: This is almost certainly the same Michel Rivard that the Bloc Quebecois wanted to add to the witness list for last summer’s Ethics committee hearings on in-and-out. He didn’t make the final cut, but did get a shoutout from former Conservative candidate Liberato Martelli, as noted in the liveblog from that session. Rivard’s fellow incoming senator Irving Gerstein was also supposed to go before the committee, but didn’t wind up doing so due to some sort of confusing confusion involving the process server and his – Gerstein’s, that is – housekeeper. (Didn’t I warn you it was confusing?)
