En visite au Puy-du-Fou, le ministre de l’Economie n’a pas pu s’empêcher de lâcher une petite phrase.

This is the French Minister of the Economy allowing that he is not really a socialist, the flavour of the current French government. Ho, Hum! You see, neither are most of those sitting on the government benches and nor is the President of the Republic, even though whole herds of them belong to the Socialist Party. None of them lives up to the label, and it was known pretty much, even from the distant sidelines, that Macron was not even as much of a faux-socialist as Valls, the PM, or Hollande, the Prez. After 14 years of Chirac and five of Sarkozy, the French thought, perhaps, they might try the other side of the political spectrum. Turns out that there really is no other side, at least within the realm of electability. This, also, should come as little surprise, given that the preceding 14 years of Mitterrand produced the same level of fundamental change that the French have seen under the Hollande presidency. This is a stark reminder of the value of “Real Change” or “Hope and Change”, Chrétien’s Red Book or any other promise that there is anything good in store for the broad electorate, and something we might want to keep in mind as we ponder the possibility of a change in leadership here in Beautiful British Columbia.