Ailing Paillé praised
‘I DID NOT THINK THIS COULD HAPPEN’ Bloc Québécois leader abruptly steps aside after revealing recent epilepsy diagnosis
Daniel Paillé, leader of the Bloc Québécois for the last two years, stunned many by announcing he is stepping down for health reasons. Philip Authier reports that praise and words of encouragement were quick to pour in after Paillé revealed he has a form of epilepsy.
Words of praise and encouragement poured in for Bloc Québécois leader Daniel Paillé Monday following his surprise resignation for health reasons.
“I want to thank him for what he did for the Bloc Québécois, for the sovereignty movement,” Premier Pauline Marois told reporters travelling with her in Brussels.
“I want to wish him luck with the future. I hope his health improves.”
“This situation saddens me,” added Gilles Duceppe, Paillé’s predecessor as leader. “We all know political life is very demanding. He did a lot with very few means over the last few years.”
The three main federal leaders, Stephen Harper, Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau, all said via Twitter that they are saddened by the news and wished Paillé well.
Paille, 63, stunned the political world Monday when he announced he was resigning his leadership only two years into the job and with the 2015 federal election looming.
At an east-end Montreal news conference, an emotional Paillé revealed he had recently been told he has a form of epilepsy.
The illness is manageable and can be stabilized, doctors have told him, but only in a more stable environment, Paillé said.
That is just not possible in the pressure-cooker job of full-time leader. He would not elaborate further on the illness and asked that his privacy be respected.
But he indicated it has shaken him to the core.
“I did not think this could happen,” Paillé said. “We are always invincible, eh, in life? And when this happens, we say to ourselves, ‘This is not what I wanted to do.’ ”
Paillé said he plans to take a long rest, spend time with his family and eventually reorganize himself professionally. Paillé is an economist.
He described his departure as a “preventive” measure for him and the party.
“Being the head of a party requires extraordinary fitness and the ability to endure myriad challenges,” Paillé said.
“I’d rather pass the torch now.
“And under the circumstances, this is the best time for the party.”
He said he would have liked to continue the Bloc’s rebuilding process — it was almost wiped off the map by the New Democratic Party in the 2011 federal election — but he said he would have felt worse had he stayed and couldn’t give it his all.
“I prepared the road for the Bloc to follow,” he said. “The Bloc has the momentum it needs to carry on.”
He insisted the Bloc is still relevant in Ottawa and his faith in sovereignty has not wavered.
“A nation cannot live under the control of another,” he said.
Shaken Bloc officials later stepped up to the microphone to announce the Bloc’s executive will meet Jan. 11 to make plans to replace Paillé.
Whoever gets the party inherits a serious challenge. While party membership is up to 35,000 across Quebec, many riding associations are in disarray.
The Bloc is hovering around 19 per cent in the polls, well behind the Liber- als and NDP.
Compared with the golden years when it elected as many as 54 MPs — there are 75 seats in Quebec — the Bloc is down to only four MPs in the Commons.
The four are Louis Plamondon, André Bellavance, Jean-François Fortin and
“The Bloc has the momentum it needs to carry on.”
DANIEL PAILLé
Claude Patry. Patry is a new arrival in the Bloc, crossing the floor from the NDP in 2012.
One other MP was elected by the Bloc in 2011 — Maria Mourani of Ahuntsic — but she was expelled by Paillé for coming out against the provincial Parti Québécois gov- ernment’s proposed charter of values.
Despite their dispute, Mourani wished him well Monday.
Paillé, a former PQ cabinet minister under Jacques Parizeau, is not currently a member of Parliament.
He was elected in a 2009 byelection but lost that seat in 2011.
Paillé won the last leadership race on a second ballot, defeating Mourani. Fortin placed third.
Fortin could run again. Former Bloc MP Pierre Paquette, now teaching economics, said he has ruled out a return to politics for now.
“It’s disappointing but understandable,” Plamondon said in an interview. “His health comes first. But we’re losing a good man.”