About Bloc Québécois Political Party

The Bloc Québécois or BQ is a federal political party in Canada that is devoted to Quebec nationalism and towards the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The party was formed by the Members of Parliament who were defected from the federal Progressive Conservative Party and Liberal Party during the time of the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord. The founder of the party was Lucien Bouchard who was a cabinet minister in the federal Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney. The political position of the party is Centre left and the symbol of the party is light blue. The current President of the party is Yves Perron. In this blog we are going to tell you the Bloc Québécois Political Party, so read this full blog to get the complete information.

A brief description of Bloc Québécois Political Party

The parties strive to make the conditions compulsory for the political secession of Quebec from Canada and also actively campaigns only within the province during federal elections. The party has been referred to as social democratic and separatist or sovereigntist.

From the 1993 federal election until 2011, the Bloc Québécois was the largest party in Quebec and either the second or third-largest party in the House of Commons throughout several straight federal elections. In the 2011 election, the party won just four seats and lost official party status because of the wave of support for the New Democratic Party. Then in 2014, the party had been reduced to two seats due to resignations and expulsions. Then in the 2015 election, the Bloc party won 10 seats but Gilles Duceppe who was the leader of the party failed to win a seat. Then in the 2019 election, the party won 32 seats which some people considered an upset and as a result, the party regained its official party status. In the 2021 election, the seat count of the party remained the same as of the 2019 election. So overall due to 2019 and 2021 elections resulted in a Liberal minority government and the Bloc Party shares the balance of power with the New Democratic Party.

The Bloc Party has strong informal ties to the Parti Québécois or PQ whose members are also known as Péquistes. It is a provincial party that advocates for the secession of Quebec from Canada and its independence. However, the two parties are not linked organizationally. As with its prevention, the Bloc Québécois is supported by a wide range of voters in Quebec from sections of organized labor to more conservative rural voters. The members and supporters who support this party are known as Bloquistes in French.

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Origin of the Bloc Québécois Political Party

The Bloc Québécois political party was formed in 1991. It was formed because of an informal Coalition of Progressive Conservative and Liberal Members of Parliament from Quebec who left their original parties during the time of the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord. It was formed and the purpose of the party was to be temporarily in work and it was given the goal of the promotion of sovereignty at the federal level. The party aimed to disband following a successful referendum on secession from Canada. Along with other parties, it has gained and lost dominant supporters over the years.

The initial coalition due to which the Bloc Party was formed was headed by Lucien Bouchard. He had been federal Minister of the Environment in the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney. But in May 1990, he abandoned the government in response to the report of a commission which was headed by Jean Charest that suggested changes in the Meech Lake Accord. Bouchard felt that the recommendations for change would destroy the objectives and spirit of the Accord. On the other hand, according to The Secret Mulroney Tapes, he was fired by Prime Minister Mulroney. At that time, Bouchard was joined by five of his fellow Tories which were Nic Leblanc, Louis Plamondon, Benoît Tremblay, Gilbert Chartrand and François Gérin along with two Liberals that were Gilles Rocheleau and Jean Lapierre. The first Bloquiste candidate to be elected was Gilles Duceppe who was a union organizer at that time, in a by-election for the Montreal riding of Laurier-Sainte-Marie on 13th August 1990. He ran as an independent candidate as the Bloc had not been registered as a federal party.

Political Positions and Ideologies of the party

Here are the political positions and ideologies of the Bloc Québécois political party. Bloc Québécois has advocated:

  • Quebec sovereignty until independence specifically repeals the Clarity Act and opposition to the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project.
  • Environmentalism was specifically supporting the Kyoto Accord.
  • Abortion rights
  • LGBTQ+ rights
  • Abolition of Canadian Senate
  • Legalization of assisted suicide
  • Abolition of the Monarchy
  • Support for the Quebec Secularism law bans government workers in positions of authority that they can’t wear religious symbols.
  • Exempt Quebec from the requirements of the multiculturalism act.

At the time of the 2015 Canadian federal election, the Bloc Québécois political party supported banning face-covering during the citizenship ceremony and voting.

Present Position of the Party

Yves François Blanchet was the only candidate to have entered the race by the 15 January 2019 deadline. He was the former cabinet minister of Parti Québécois. He was named the leader of the party on 17 January 2019. As Blanchet became the leader, BQ saw its support increase in Quebec during the 2019 election. In 2015, the number of seats of BQ was 10 and it was increased by 32 in 2019. Both took over the NDP to become the third-largest party in Canada and thus it regained official party status.

Party Leaders of Bloc Québécois

The party leaders of the Bloc Québécois political party till now are Lucien Bouchard from 1990, Michel Gauthier from 1996, Gilles Duceppe from 1997, Daniel Paillé from 2011, Mario Beaulieu from 2014, Martin Ouellet from 2017 and the current leader is Yves-Francois Blanchet from 2019.

So overall this article was about Bloc Québécois political party and its brief History in the Canadian government.