Keywords Politics

Bloc Québécois Leadership Campaign

That may, in part, be due to the perception that front-runner Gilles Duceppe is a shoo-in for the job. "The question is not whether he'll win," says Jean-Marc Léger, president of the Montreal-based polling firm Groupe Léger & Léger, "but if he'll do it on the first try." Regardless of who is announced the winner when the mail-in votes are tallied on March 15 at the party's leadership convention in Montreal, the challenge stays the same: how to remain relevant at a time when the BQ's bread and butter - Quebec independence - has receded from the national stage. "Maybe it has less of a mandate because this is not a big time for constitutional issues," notes Lapierre. But he maintains that the party continues to be in a strong position because there is no other alternative to the federal Liberal party and the constitutional stalemate. "It fills the vacuum in the political situation in Quebec."

In fact, in spite of the lack of attention to the leadership race, the Bloc remains popular in Quebec. A recent Léger & Léger poll showed 44.8 per cent of decided voters favored the BQ, compared with 40.9 per cent for the Liberals and 10.1 for the Tories. But Duceppe also acknowledges that the party has some work ahead of it. "We have to be more visible," he told Maclean's. Bilingual, and a frequent and effective presence in the House of Commons, he is the party's best-known candidate in English Canada. But when the Bloc Québécois leadership last became vacant - in January, 1996, when party founder Bouchard left Ottawa for Quebec City - the prospect of Duceppe's future coronation as leader seemed very remote. Although he ran against Gauthier, Duceppe was viewed by some of his caucus colleagues as too authoritarian for the job. This time out, though, the 49-year-old Bloc house leader, enjoying the support of 23 party MPs, quickly emerged as the front-runner over fellow Bloc MPs Francine Lalonde and Pierrette Venne, Bloc policy adviser Daniel Turp, and Rodrigue Biron and Yves Duhaime, two former Parti Québécois cabinet ministers.

Although Duceppe insists he has always been a team player, he still has his critics. "He's an intransigent type," says former Bloc MP François Gérin, who calls Duceppe difficult to work with. Gérin supports Duhaime, a bilingual businessman who held several PQ cabinet positions under René Lévesque. With the support of Montreal's Le Devoir newspaper and 16 Bloc MPs, Duhaime, 57, appears to be Duceppe's stiffest competition. He may also prove to be a thorn in Prime Minister Jean Chértien's side, vowing to carry the Bloc Québécois banner in Chértien's riding of St-Maurice in the next federal election campaign.

Duceppe is widely perceived as Bouchard's pick for the job. That can be both a blessing and a curse: Gauthier was dogged throughout his leadership by the perception that he existed in Bouchard's shadow. "One thing is sure, I'm not a yes-man," Duceppe maintains. But others dispute the Bloc's ability to portray itself as independent, and some question the need. "The Bloc is now a branch plant of the Parti Québécois," says Lapierre, who does not think that situation poses a problem for the party.

In fact, branch plants are often successful. In the coming federal election, expected to be called for June, BQ members confidently say that the party, which currently holds 51 of the 75 seats in Quebec, will again carry the province. In fact, Gérin notes, Quebecers do not even care who leads the party - "What they like about the Bloc is the protest movement that it embodies." Others, though, note that the race is likely to be tighter, with the federal Liberals hoping for a resurgence in Quebec. "It's a fairly competitive battle," says Darrell Bricker, senior vice-president at the polling firm Angus Reid Group, of the impending BQ-Liberal fight. But, Duceppe boasts, "we are ready like we have never been before." For the moment, though, the Bloc faces a more pressing task: choosing a new leader - and generating some excitement.

Maclean's March 17, 1997

Author BRENDA BRANSWELL in Montreal