Bloc disintegrates as 7 of 10 MPs quit caucus
OTTAWA The Bloc Québécois is in turmoil after a majority of its MPs quit caucus Wednesday, spelling an uncertain future for the separatist party after years of decline.
The seven mutineers said they ’re unhappy with the unbending leadership style of Martine Ouellet. Former leader Gilles Duceppe sided with them, telling Quebec news media that she should resign. Only three MPs loyal to her remain.
Since a devastating electoral defeat in 2011, when the party went from 49 MPs to only four, the Bloc has been out of the limelight. In its heyday, the party was a major player. It formed the official opposition a quarter-century ago in the lead-up to the 1995 referendum.
But the party’s electoral success has always relied upon the strength of the separatist movement itself. And with polling over the years showing a decline in support for Quebec independence, so too has the Bloc’s popularity and visibility hemorrhaged.
Ouellet has taken a militant approach to putting energy back into the cause of separatism — her outspoken support for an independent Catalonia in Spain, complete with live-blogging from referendum day in Barcelona, was just one recent example. But 70 per cent of her caucus feels that attitude has gone too far.
In a statement about their decision to quit, the seven MPs blamed Ouellet for focusing so much on sovereignty that the broader economic and cultural interests of Quebec were getting lost in the shuffle.
They said internal fractures were distracting from the party’s ultimate goal of standing up for the province.
“While we argue among ourselves in the public eye, we are not adequately defending the interests of Quebecers, we are not playing the role that the public elected us to perform,” they said in a Frenchlanguage statement.
“Quebec has nothing to gain from disputes within the Bloc Québécois.”
Ouellet, a member of Quebec’s provincial assembly for the separatist Parti Québécois, was elected to lead the federal party just under a year ago but chose not to quit her job at the legislature nor to seek a seat in the House of Commons. Trouble has brewed with her parliamentary caucus ever since.
The same seven MPs had raised hell last summer over internal politics.
HuffPost Quebec reported last June that Ouellet’s chief of staff tried leaking information to the press that would damage the reputation of MP and former Bloc leader Rhéal Fortin. Led by House leader Gabriel Ste-Marie, seven MPs went public with their distaste for Ouellet’s decisionmaking. Then, after an emergency meeting in Ottawa, she apologized and fired the staffer.
A show of unity seemed to stave off a rupture. But it wasn’t long before tensions renewed themselves.
This latest crisis was foreshadowed Monday when Ste-Marie stepped down as House leader, citing difficulties with Ouellet in a statement to the press. The two were at odds, unable to communicate and disagreeing consistently about how to conduct parliamentary work, he said, making it untenable to fulfil his responsibilities.
In a press conference Wednesday, Ste-Marie, standing with the six others, said it had become impossible to work with the leader. There is no listening, he said — only submission.
Ouellet admitted to the Journal de Montreal that she is perceived as controlling. “Some people say that I’m controlling. I am a thousand times less controlling than Gilles Duceppe,” she said.
When the seven MPs gave her an ultimatum Wednesday — either step down, or we quit — she was defiant. Ouellet told reporters she is staying and has the endorsement of members and the party’s youth wing. She said the door would stay open if the seven change their minds.
Conservative MP Maxime Bernier opened the door, too, saying tongue-in-cheek if the seven really wanted to fight for Quebec they should stand with the Tories. He said Quebecers have turned the page on the sovereignty debate. “I think the future is behind them,” he said of the Bloc.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also weighed in on the party’s crisis. “Seeing support for sovereignty continue to quietly diminish in various surveys over the years, it’s a good thing for the federalist cause, obviously,” he told reporters in French.
Seeing the Bloc deteriorate creates a “moment of reflection” for other parties, he said.
National Post