Two years later, with the PQ in power, Bouchard became the government's chief negotiator with the province's 300 000 public servants. In 1980 he served as chair of the oui (yes) side that wanted Quebec to separate from Canada.

Prime Minister Brian MULRONEY appointed Bouchard ambassador to France in 1988 and asked him to join the federal Conservative Cabinet that year as secretary of state and later as minister of the environment (1988-90). However, Bouchard was upset by the growing resistance to the MEECH LAKE ACCORD (see MEECH LAKE ACCORD: DOCUMENT) and Mulroney's unwillingness to make it work.

On May 21, 1990, he quickly resigned from the Cabinet and the CONSERVATIVE PARTY. Within weeks he gathered a group of like-minded Quebec MPs and formed the BLOC QUÉBÉCOIS. In the atmosphere of betrayal and distrust that followed the rejection of the Meech Lake Accord, Bouchard was the most popular politician in Quebec. In the 1993 federal election, Bouchard easily won in his riding of Lac-Saint-Jean, his old riding as a Conservative member of Parliament, and he helped the Bloc become the Official Opposition in the HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Bouchard promised to put Quebec's immediate interests first in the new Parliament. In the meantime, the PQ won the provincial election in 1994, and Bouchard promised separatists in Quebec that his federal party, the Bloc, would fight the federal government's stand against separatism. However, the PQ's leader, Jacques PARIZEAU, was unable to stir enough interest in separatism among Quebecers. Bouchard was asked to help. On October 30, 1995, the referendum was defeated in an agonizingly close vote. Parizeau resigned the next day and Bouchard took some time to decide whether his efforts were best suited in Quebec City as premier or in Ottawa leading the Bloc.

He decided to become Quebec's new premier and resigned his seat in the House of Commons in January 1996. He was sworn in as premier on January 29, 1996. Bouchard felt that another referendum within a few years would fail, so he decided to concentrate on improving Quebec's economy instead. Though cuts to health care and social spending were unpopular with some Quebecers, the PQ was able to improve Quebec's economy somewhat. The PQ also won the 1998 election. Bouchard stayed on as premier for another 3 years, but he was disappointed that the separatist cause had not gained momentum during his time as premier. He resigned in 2001 and was replaced by Bernard LANDRY on March 8, 2001.