Bloc Québécois’s Duceppe proud of achievements after 20 years
His time as leader has been marked by vote gains and stability
Published August 27 , 2010
By Martin C. Barry • NEWSFIRST

Twenty years after first being sent to Ottawa to sit as an MP in the House of Commons, Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe is proud of the fact the Bloc has been able to participate in six consecutive general elections, five of which saw Duceppe guide the party as its leader. “There is no other party that can say that,” Duceppe said at a press conference held during a stopover he made in Laval on Aug. 19.
Like the leaders of some of the other federal parties, Duceppe has spent part of the past summer touring the province and touching base with local constituents. At the press briefing, he was accompanied by Laval’s three Bloc MPs, Nicole Demers, Serge Ménard and Robert Carrier, as well as by Mohamedali Jetha, the Bloc’s candidate in Laval-les Îles.
Replaced Bouchard
First elected in 1990 as an independent MP for the riding of Laurier-Sainte Marie before the Bloc was officially accredited as a party, Duceppe, 63, became the Bloc Québécois’s leader in 1997 after former Bloc leader Lucien Bouchard’s departure from federal politics.
Duceppe’s time as leader has been marked by stability within the party. There has also been consistent support in key Quebec ridings where the Bloc’s defence of the province’s interests and its sovereignist ambitions remain popular with voters. For now, the Bloc is also taking a degree of interest in defending the concerns of francophones in other parts of Canada such as New Brunswick and Northern Ontario.
Voters ‘recognize’ Bloc
“We are very well positioned in the polls,” Duceppe told reporters. “Quebecers recognize themselves in the Bloc because we reflect their interests and their values. When I hear the federalist parties say this is preventing us from having more of a majority, it is they who are doing that to themselves. Quebecers don’t recognize themselves in the Liberals, the Conservatives or the NDP. We are not responsible for their powerlessness.
“I am very proud of that, and very proud to say also all the time in Quebec let’s stop blaming Canada,” Duceppe continued. “It’s a beautiful country. The Canadian nation is a great nation. Of course, it so happens that it’s not our nation and it would take a country of our own to be able to speak equal to equal, country to country. But we will not achieve sovereignty in spite. We will do it because we want to participate fully in the world.”
Transformed Bloc’s image
In his time as leader, Duceppe has greatly helped to cultivate the Bloc Québécois’s image as a party of moderates, rather than one that has a confrontational stance with the rest of Canada. Although the Bloc courts voters and runs candidates only in Quebec, Duceppe is also known for occasionally taking the message to the other provinces. “Sovereignists are not wacky extremists,” he said last week. “Canadians recognize the rigor we have in our work, the seriousness that we demonstrate. I don’t say they’re for sovereignty, but there’s a respect that has established itself and I am very proud of that.”
While Duceppe’s leadership of his party looks quite easy (compared to the ever-divided Liberals), this raises the question of whether leading the Bloc Québécois is largely a task of preaching to the converted. While voter support for the Bloc remains stable, the numbers appear to have peaked and it remains to be seen if further gains can be achieved under Duceppe’s continuing leadership.
Preaching to the converted?
“Obviously when I am going into each region, I am meeting with the party activists,” he told the Laval News. “But it doesn’t stop us from meeting with business people or union people who are not necessarily sovereignists. But it’s important for us to meet with them, and sometimes we don’t even know if they are sovereignists or not.” Duceppe maintains that he doesn’t bother to inquire with most people he meets whether they are sovereignists, but allows them to judge him and the party based on the integrity of its policies and commitments.