Yes, they’re out of office – mostly. But even with just a handful of MPs after a historic thumping in the last election, the Bloc Quebecois still manages to make our blood boil. And yes, of course, it has to do with money. Our money, which they’re taking and abusing without even so much as a thank you.

There was an explosive story in La Presse Saturday morning claiming that between 2004 and 2011, Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe had used money from his House of Commons budget to pay the salary of a top party staffer. We’re talking about amounts that get very close to $1 million in total. Of money that’s supposed to be used for parliamentary purposes – gone instead to the party, which is a big no-no.

The party is trying to defend itself. Mr. Duceppe and his former chief of staff saying all this had been “known” for many years, that the Bloc had never tried to hide anything. I’m sure this will impress investigators. Some people are even suggesting that the party or Mr. Duceppe ought to repay that money. Well, yes. Absolutely. Take it out of Mr. Duceppe’s lavish, $140,000/year pension, maybe?

There is, however, a little bit of good news in this story. The fact that the party didn’t have enough money to pay everyone and was “forced” to divert funds from parliamentary sources to pay its own staff shows you that normal people in Quebec don’t give money to separatist parties. As my friend and Sun News colleague Eric Duhaime explained just before last year’s election, about 80% of Bloc funds come from taxpayer subsidies. Oh, and also: The Harper government is finally getting around to canceling some of those subsidies, and the Bloc will soon be weaned off this free taxpayer money.

Left to its own devices, the Bloc will die a slow painful death (or at least suffer greatly) because without money you can’t keep the dream alive for very long. It sure makes it hard to win elections when you have no budget for ads. Or staff. Or signs.

So the bad news is, you’re still being played for chumps, with your own money. The good news is, it’s almost over. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait.