Gilles Duceppe

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Gilles Duceppe
Gilles Duceppe
Leader of the Bloc Québécois
Incumbent
Riding Laurier—Sainte-Marie (1990-present)
In office since August 13, 1990
Preceded by Jean-Claude Malépart
Born July 22, 1947
Montreal, Quebec
Residence Montreal
Political party

Bloc Québécois
Profession(s) Hospital orderly, Union organizer
Spouse Yolande Brunelle

Gilles Duceppe, M.P. (born July 22, 1947 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Quebec separatist and social democratic politician in Canada. He is a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons and the leader of the separatist Bloc Québécois party. He is the son of a well-known Québécois actor, Jean Duceppe, and Hélène Rowley. His maternal grandfather was John James Rowley, a Briton by birth. Duceppe's British roots had him once quip that "I’m a bloke who turned Bloc."[1]

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[edit] Early life

A native of Montreal, Québec, Duceppe studied political science at the Université de Montréal. Like his fellow separatist politician Andre Boisclair (leader of the Parti Quebecois), Duceppe does not hold an undergraduate degree. (While Duceppe's website [2] claims that he holds a Bacc. ès arts from the private Collège Mont-Saint-Louis, this is apparently his CEGEP secondary school qualification.) While attending the Université de Montréal, he became the general manager of the school's newspaper, Quartier Libre. In his youth, he advocated bolshevism, and held membership in the Worker's Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist). Duceppe later claimed that his three-year membership in the W.C.P. (M.L.) was a mistake brought on by a search for absolute answers [3]. However, during this period - which lasted well into his thirties - he subscribed to militant Maoist ideology and was fired from his job as a hospital orderly for belligerent activities [4]. Duceppe even went so far as to intentionally spoil his 1980 sovereignty-association referendum ballot arguing that Quebecois should instead focus their efforts on overthrowing capitalism [5]. Before becoming a member of the federal parliament of Canada, Duceppe worked as a hospital orderly and later became a trade union negotiator.

At about the age of 12, Duceppe was involved in an incident that changed his views of Quebec's place in Canada. When Duceppe complained about differential treatment of francophone students on a school bus, an anglophone teacher slapped him [6]. Duceppe responded by slapping her back. He later stated in the Ottawa Citizen that: "If you're talking about social justice, that event marked me."

[edit] Election to Parliament

In 1990, Duceppe was elected to the Canadian House of Commons under the banner of the newly-formed Bloc Québécois in a by-election in Montreal's Laurier—Sainte-Marie riding. At the time, Duceppe ran as an independent because the Bloc had not been registered by Elections Canada as a political party. All of the Bloc's other Members of Parliament had crossed the floor from either the Progressive Conservative Party or the Liberal Party earlier that year. Duceppe's victory in a by-election demonstrated - for the first time - that the party had electoral support in Quebec and could win elections. Previously, many pundits (and members of other parties) predicted that the Bloc would not gain traction with ordinary voters in Quebec.

[edit] Leadership of the Bloc Québécois

In 1996, when Lucien Bouchard stepped down as Bloc leader to become leader of the Parti Québécois, Duceppe served as interim leader of the party. Michel Gauthier eventually became the offical leader later that year. However, Gauthier's lack of visibility in both Quebec and English Canada coupled with his weak leadership resulted in the party forcing him out in 1997. Duceppe won the ensuing leadership constest and became the offical leader of the Bloc Quebecois and Leader of the Opposition. As Leader of the Opposition, Duceppe was technically entitled for membership in the Queen's Privy Council for Canada but he rejected it.

In the 1997 general election, the Bloc lost official opposition status, slipping to third place in the House of Commons behind the Reform Party. Of particular note during the campaign concered a visit by Duceppe to a cheese factory where he was photographed wearing a hairnet resembling a shower cap. The photo became widely parodied on Canadian television. On election night, the Bloc's Commons caucus strength was reduced to 44 seats. This number further fell after the subsequent federal election (2000 election) to a mere 38 seats. Over this period, critics derided Duceppe as an ineffectual campaigner, but no serious challenge to his leadership emerged.

With the sponsorship scandal that erupted soon after Jean Chrétien's departure as Liberal party leader in 2003, the Bloc's fortunes improved markedly. In the 2004 election, Duceppe's Bloc won 54 seats in the Commons, returning the party to its all-time high water mark. During the election's national debates, Duceppe's lucid explanations of Bloc Quebecois policies and his chastising of the other national party leaders' promises, resulted in both the French and English media ruling him the best speaker. Despite the Bloc's 54 seat strength, the party did not form Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Instead, the larger unified Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties filled this role.

With Chrétien's departure, Duceppe became the longest-serving leader of a major party in Canada. With the recent success of the Bloc, and his increasingly well-received performance as leader, speculation mounted that Duceppe might seek the leadership of the Parti Québécois - particularly when Bernard Landry stepped down as party leader on June 4, 2005. On June 13, 2005, Duceppe announced that he would not run for the leadership of the PQ.

In the 2006 federal election, many Bloc insiders believed that Duceppe's popularity, combined with the unpopularity of the Liberal Party in Quebec, would push the Bloc Quebecois over the symbolic majority vote mark among Quebec voters. Many Quebec separatists felt that a strong performance by the Bloc in the 2006 federal election would boost the sovereignist movement and perhaps set the stage for a new referendum on secession after the anticipated Quebec provincial election expected in 2007. In actuality, a late surge in Conservative and federalist support kept the Bloc's share of the popular vote below 43% giving the Bloc only 51 seats. The unimpressive and lackluster results on election night has called into question the level of supposed separatist support in Quebec.

On November 24, 2006, Gilles Duceppe announced that the Bloc Quebecois will support a Conservative motion that recognizes Quebec as a nation within Canada - the latest twist in a dispute that threatens to reopen the thorny debate concerning Quebec's place within Confederation.

[edit] Quotes

  • "We are delighted by the fact that Canada will become the first country to officially recognize the Quebec nation,"
  • "What's important is that the nation is recognized and it is on that basis that we will demand the government be accountable because it must mean something," [7]

[edit] External links

Preceded by:
Jean-Claude Malépart		 Member of Parliament for Laurier—Sainte-Marie
1990–present		 Succeeded by:
incumbent
Preceded by:
Lucien Bouchard		 Leader of the Bloc Québécois
1996 (interim)		 Succeeded by:
Michel Gauthier
Preceded by:
Lucien Bouchard		 Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons
1996		 Succeeded by:
Michel Gauthier
Preceded by:
Michel Gauthier		 Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons
1997		 Succeeded by:
Preston Manning
Preceded by:
Michel Gauthier		 Leader of the Bloc Québécois
1997 – present		 Incumbent


Leaders of the Bloc Québécois
Bouchard | Gauthier | Duceppe
Persondata
NAME Duceppe, Gilles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Leader of the Bloc Québécois
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Montreal
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../g/i/l/Gilles_Duceppe_2310.html"
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