It reminds us of what happened in the early 1980s when the organizations of Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney toured the ranks of the homeless and refugees to sign up members for the Progressive Conservative party. Except that, in these days of telemarketing and the Internet, you can sign up people without even telling them.

This has happened but is being officially discouraged, claim representatives for the Tom Long campaign.

For what it's worth, it so happened that Long had the fewest supporters in the room here on Monday night, the party's only candidates' debate held in Quebec. Which would tend to indicate that a lot of Long supporters may not yet know they have become card-carrying members of the Canadian Alliance.

For now, this is not all that serious. But if those members who do not know they are members were to become voters who do not know they are voters, the thin line between bragging and fraud will have been crossed.

This could happen only when a party has so few roots somewhere (or none at all) that everything is left to a few overly enthusiastic professional organizers.

If that happens, it's too bad because it would be all that people remember of the Alliance's leadership race in Quebec. And yet, there are a few interesting things going on.

Now, don't hold your breath - the Alliance won't win a seat in Quebec in the next federal election. It will not even come close in a single riding. But its message may find quite a few takers in the election after that if the party is careful and does its homework.

At the Montreal leadership debate, the party attracted the usual collection of crackpots that always seem to be attracted to new political parties. But beyond that, one could see the beginnings of a message and even of a messenger who could get through to Quebecers.

A lot has been said about the candidates' ability to speak French. But that is not quite the point. The real thing is not to be able to deliver a clip in French; it is to be able to answer questions, which implies, of course, understanding questions asked in French.

On that level, only one candidate has any sort of knowledge of French and it is Stockwell Day. He does not need immersion classes, which ambitious politicians always register for but rarely attend. He just needs practice - that's different.

But more importantly, he does not carry any reputation of being anti-Quebec and actually has something to say about how federalism should be working.

No apology or explanation

Preston Manning still has not apologized or even found a decent explanation for the ad attacking Quebec politicians in the 1997 election campaign. It may be unfair to blame Manning personally, but the ad had racist overtones and has not been forgotten in a province where the motto is "I remember."

Whether he likes it or not, that ad happened on Manning's watch and it it's not enough for him to argue now that all he really meant was that other Canadians should have a say in the national unity debate.

Tom Long uses the old cop-out of saying everything would be fine if we stuck to the letter of the 1867 Constitution. Nice. But where does the Internet fit in that 133-year-old document spelling out the federal-provincial division of powers?

As for Stockwell Day, he can talk not just about theory but experience. As Treasurer of Alberta, he has had to live with federalism as it is practised by the Chretien Liberals, with cuts in transfer payments for hospitals and universities while the feds are drowning in black ink and trying to find new programs on which to spend taxpayers' money.

It's true, as Day says, that there has always been a kind of community of spirit between Quebec City and Edmonton on the way federalism ought to work for the provinces instead of against them.

If Day could manage not to let his ultra-conservative message on social issues become more important to the Quebec electorate than his views on federalism, he may be on to something.

And the Alliance could recruit members from somewhere other than the White Pages.

Michael Auger, political columnist for Le Journal de Montreal and Le Journal de Quebec, appears Fridays. His e-mail address is: mcauger@journalmtl.com