Analysis | “I still hope that something happens”

Gilles Duceppe is not giving up, 25 years after his election as leader of the Bloc Québécois

(Quebec) Fate knocked three times on Gilles Duceppe’s door, but each time the politician chose another path. He never made the leap to Quebec, did not become leader of the Parti Québécois. A look back at the career of the man who, 25 years ago, on March 15, 1997, took over from Lucien Bouchard as leader of the Bloc in the House of Commons.

Even if sovereignty is no longer so popular, Duceppe does not forfeit. In 1989, a year before the failure of Meech, the polling houses no longer even asked the question on the intention to vote in the referendum, recalls the ex-politician in an interview this week. Meech was instrumental, “but there’s always a bottom that can bring something up, even if it’s not there right now.” “When we observe the meteoric assimilation of Francophones in Canada and the precarious situation of French in Montreal, I still hope that something will happen,” drops the 75-year-old ex-politician.

With hindsight, he admits having a regret; he should have tried his luck when, in June 2005, Bernard Landry walked out of the Parti Québécois. “It’s a mistake I made, when Mr. Landry left, I should have gone,” admits Duceppe. Even before Landry’s departure, he seemed the obvious successor, Jacques Parizeau had described him as “the most inspiring sovereigntist”. At the convention during which Landry announced his surprise departure, Duceppe had just made a show of force.

As at the time, Duceppe recalls that everyone then expected the imminent triggering of federal elections. However, the government of Paul Martin had survived in extremis when the conservative Belinda Stronach had crossed the House. The vote took place six months later. In Ottawa, Michel Gauthier was the likely replacement, but his English was a problem, observes Duceppe.

“Duceppe felt he had a responsibility to stay, because of the minority government,” summarizes Stéphane Gobeil, then in the entourage of the Bloc. “It was a combination of circumstances,” say in unison François Leblanc and Pierre-Paul Roy, two longtime collaborators of Duceppe in Ottawa. Gobeil affixes a caveat: Duceppe may have backed down from the size of the challenge.

When André Boisclair resigned in May 2007, Duceppe was on the end of his chair. He has seen himself for a long time “in the guise of the leader of the PQ,” Boisclair declared, emptying his heart in an interview. The time of a press release, Duceppe announces that he will be in the ranks, ready for a confrontation with Pauline Marois, candidate already announced. In less than 24 hours, he changed his mind and gave up trying to get on the track.

Intuition

“In politics, you have to have reflection, but also intuition. That’s the person you live with. Being a candidate was a mistake, Yolande [sa femme] made me understand that,” explains Duceppe today. His spouse was away for work at the time, and his arguments hit home when he returned. Other sources, however, confide that Duceppe had quickly felt that he was not welcome among the PQ deputies. “Each time Gilles wanted to run for the leadership of the PQ, the reaction of the party was […] extremely reserved”, says the ex-deputy Pierre Curzi in the biography of Duceppe published by Robert Blondin. At the head of the Bloc, Duceppe had earned a reputation for “rigidity, authoritarianism”, continues Curzi. “There have always been reluctant people in the PQ caucus, for them, Mr. Duceppe was a stranger, just like Lucien Bouchard. If you do not come from the PQ, you remain a foreigner, ”sums up Pierre-Paul Roy.

The year 2011 will be very difficult for Pauline Marois at the head of the PQ. Discontent simmers within the party. At strategic moments, association presidents announce their departure. Duceppe’s collaborators weigh the support he would be likely to obtain, he who has just suffered a beating on the federal scene. Within the PQ caucus, we are preparing for a putsch with which Duceppe does not want to be associated.

“I have no desire to take the place of anyone. I neither condone nor encourage any challenge to your leadership,” Duceppe wrote in a public letter to Ms.^me Marois, early November. At the time, an independent MP, Louise Beaudoin qualified, however: the former Bloc leader was more “proactive” than he wants to admit. At the beginning of 2012, Duceppe had invited her to a dinner to ask her if she would rejoin the caucus if he became leader of the PQ. She had accepted. Duceppe says he does not remember this interview.

End of January 2012, The Press reveals that under Gilles Duceppe, for seven years, the director general of the Bloc, Gilbert Gardner, was paid from the budget paid by the House of Commons, a contravention of the rules which required that these funds be used to pay for parliamentary activities, and not partisans. Over time, we will understand that the rules remained imprecise. But these revelations will radically cut the wings of the ambitions of the Duceppe clan.

Highs and lows

It’s been a roller coaster career for this former CSN trade unionist who negotiated for the hotel sector. In the summer of 1990, the son of actor Jean Duceppe, an icon of Quebec theatre, became the first MP elected under the banner of the Bloc Québécois, then a phalanx of MPs breaking the Conservatives and Liberals ban, grouped behind Lucien Bouchard, who had just resigned from the Mulroney government.

He is undoubtedly the sovereignist who has contributed the most to explaining Quebec’s aspirations in the rest of the country. Perfectly bilingual, he made several pan-Canadian tours and numerous interventions in Toronto, an important contribution at a time when the Chrétien government had adopted its referendum “clarity” law. “We held conferences, wrote books. Parizeau said that the Bloc was the beacon of the sovereigntist movement”, underlines Duceppe still today.

His career is marked by resounding successes. In the June 2004 elections, thanks to the sponsorship scandal, the Bloc obtained 49% of the votes in Quebec, reaching the record of Lucien Bouchard and the Bloc in 1993. Like Bouchard, Duceppe then had 54 deputies elected. Particularly slick communications campaigns – “A clean party in Quebec”, for example – will remain a trademark, until at least inspired by “On parle QC” of the difficult campaign of 2015.

Duceppe also experienced severe thaws. He recounts his first campaign, in 1997.

In his work The Quiet Rebellion who remains the reference in the history of the Bloc Québécois, Martine Tremblay recalls that this campaign, which begins with the unflattering image of the chef wearing a hat in a cheese factory, is a way of the cross for Duceppe. His entourage “comes to the conclusion that he is unable to finish the campaign”, she writes. Duceppe even disguises himself as a draught at a partisan event in Longueuil, “an asthma attack,” explains Pierre-Paul Roy today.

In the 2011 election, a sudden wave of sympathy for then-NDP leader Jack Layton melted his support. The Bloc goes from 49 to 4 deputies, Duceppe is even beaten in his riding. In previous months, Bloc publications and rallies had emphasized the 20^and party birthday. Voters may have remembered that this party should only have one election, observes Martine Tremblay.

The same cruel disappointment when, in 2015, Duceppe took over from Mario Beaulieu at the last minute, at his request. The Bloc was heading towards extinction. Quebecers decide to fire Harper by supporting Justin Trudeau. Duceppe obtains 19% of the seats, with only 10 deputies. Once again, he was beaten in Laurier–Sainte-Marie.

What should we remember from his time in politics? “My work… The honesty of my convictions, and the ability to work, even with adversaries. I had learned that in negotiations, ”sums up Duceppe in an interview. “People wonder whether to ‘be or have’. I’ve always said: the important thing is to ‘do’”, he concludes.