CBCnews

I know it well, that melody...

The NDP rally featured a new song in Gatineau, a Quebec song that some of you may have heard before.

Political Bytes

Rosemary Barton

"En attendant: le reel des gens," by the popular Quebec group, les Cowboys Fringants.

It's a real toe-tapper.

The only problem?

It also happens to be a song written very specifically to criticize Quebec Premier Jean Charest and his policies during the 2003 Quebec election. One of Charest's cabinet ministers was Thomas Mulcair — Layton's deputy leader and only Quebec MP.

The song talks about change in a general way (as does Layton), but the details target Charest by citing his plans to "re-engineer" the Quebec bureaucracy and making fun of his last election slogan "Nous sommes prets."

The NDP says it still believes the song generally applies to their message.

Rosemary Barton