Former Bloc, NDP MPs form regional Quebec party

OTTAWA• A former Bloc Québécois MP and an NDP defector have formed a new Quebec-only party targeting the regions of the province.

The two MPs — both named JeanFrançois — announced the move Tuesday.

Former Bloc MP Jean-François Fortin and former New Democrat Jean-François Larose said the new party is dedicated to defending the interests of Quebec’s regions, and decried what they saw as increasing centralization in the existing parties that ignores the will of Canadians they represent.

Experts suggested the creation of the new party, named Forces et Democratie, isn’t likely to send immediate waves through the political scene in Quebec.

“To me this seems like a guy [Mr. Fortin] jumping off a sinking ship and building a small raft to stay afloat,” said Pierre Martin, an expert on Quebec politics from the Université de Montréal.

The NDP has polled well in Quebec, Mr. Martin said, while Liberal

To me this seems like a guy jumping off a sinking ship and building a small raft

leader Justin Trudeau doesn’t appear to have as much traction.

“Whether to take this seriously? No,” Mr. Martin said of the new party. “It’s not something that’s likely to make a lot of waves.”

Mr. Larose’s defection marks the fourth time a Quebec MP has left the NDP since the party won 59 of Quebec’s 75 seats in the 2011 election, and comes a year before Canadians are next scheduled to go to the polls, in October 2015.

NDP insiders privately said Mr. Larose quit because he was unlikely to win the nomination in his riding of Repentigny with challenges from a former staffer and a former candidate. Publicly, the party called the move a “clear-cut act of disloyalty and betrayal of the memory of Jack Layton.”

Kathy Brock, an expert on political parties from Queen’s University, said the move may suggest a need for the NDP to take some action in Quebec.

“The fact that this party is targeting the regions of Quebec — they’re not going into the centre — says it is going to an area where the NDP is likely to build ... rather than a place where the Liberals are going to play strong, particularly a Liberal party with a Trudeau at the head of it,” Ms. Brock said.