Gilles Duceppe

Gilles Duceppe
Leader of the Opposition
In office March 15, 1997 – June 1, 1997
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Jean Chrétien
Preceded by	Michel Gauthier
Succeeded by	Preston Manning
In office January 16, 1996 – February 17, 1996 Acting
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Jean Chrétien
Preceded by	Lucien Bouchard
Succeeded by	Michel Gauthier
Leader of the Bloc Québécois
In office March 15, 1997 – May 2, 2011
Preceded by	Michel Gauthier
Succeeded by	Daniel Paillé
In office January 16, 1996 – February 17, 1996 Acting
Preceded by	Lucien Bouchard
Succeeded by	Michel Gauthier
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Laurier—Sainte-Marie
In office August 13, 1990 – May 1, 2011
Preceded by	Jean-Claude Malépart
Succeeded by	Hélène Laverdière
Personal details
Born	(1947-07-22) July 22, 1947 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Political party	Bloc Québécois
Other political affiliations	Workers' Communist Party of Canada (formerly)
Spouse(s)	Yolande Brunelle
Children	Amélie Duceppe and Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe
Alma mater	University of Montreal (Incomplete)
Profession	Orderly Union organizer
Signature

Gilles Duceppe (French pronunciation: ​[ʒil dysɛp]; born July 22, 1947) is a Canadian politician, and proponent of the Québec sovereignty movement. He was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada for over 20 years and was the leader of the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois for almost 15 years. He is the son of a well-known Quebec actor, Jean Duceppe. He was Leader of the Official Opposition in the Parliament of Canada from March 17, 1997, to June 1, 1997. He resigned as party leader after the 2011 election, in which he lost his own seat to New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate Hélène Laverdière and his party suffered a heavy defeat.

Early life

Duceppe was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Hélène (née Rowley) and actor Jean Duceppe. His maternal grandfather was John James Rowley, a Briton by birth and a home child. Duceppe's British roots had him once quip that "I'm a bloke who turned Bloc."

Duceppe has told the story of an Anglophone Grade 6 teacher slapping him after he complained about preferential treatment being given to anglophone students. Duceppe claimed he slapped the teacher back. In any event, he became a sovereigntist by the age of 20, inspired by René Lévesque and the founding of the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association.

Duceppe completed his high school studies at the Collège Mont-Saint-Louis. Duceppe then studied political science at the Université de Montréal but did not complete his program of study. While attending the Université de Montréal, he became general manager of the school's newspaper, Quartier Latin. In his youth, he advocated communism, and held membership in the Workers' Communist Party of Canada (WCP), a Maoist group. Duceppe later claimed that his three-year membership in the WCP was a mistake brought on by a search for absolute answers.

However, during this period—which lasted well into his thirties—he subscribed to militant Maoist ideology and was fired from his job as a hospital orderly for belligerent activities. Duceppe even went so far as to intentionally spoil his 1980 sovereignty-association referendum ballot arguing that Québécois should instead focus their efforts on staying united to fight capitalism.

Before becoming a member of the federal parliament of Canada, Duceppe worked as a hospital orderly and later became a trade union negotiator. In 1968 he became vice-president of the Union générale des étudiants du Québec (General Union of Quebec Students) and in 1970 manager of the Université de Montréal student paper, Quartier latin. In 1972 he launched his career in community and union settings, as moderator for the citizen's committee of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, then in 1977 as a representative for the Royal Victoria Hospital employees. In 1981 he became a union organizer for the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (Confederation of National Trade Unions), where he became a negotiator in 1986.^{[citation needed]}

Election to Parliament

In 1990, Duceppe was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as an independent because the Bloc had not been registered by Elections Canada as a political party. All of the Bloc's other Members of Parliament had crossed the floor from either the Progressive Conservative Party or the Liberal Party earlier that year. Duceppe's victory in a by-election demonstrated — for the first time — that the party had electoral support in Quebec and could win elections. Previously, many pundits (and members of other parties) predicted that the Bloc would not gain traction with ordinary voters in Quebec.^{[citation needed]}

Leadership of the Bloc Québécois

Gilles Duceppe during a 2007 protest.

In 1996, when Lucien Bouchard stepped down as Bloc leader to become leader of the Parti Québécois, Duceppe served as interim leader of the party. Michel Gauthier eventually became the official leader later that year. However, Gauthier's lack of visibility in both Quebec and English Canada coupled with his weak leadership resulted in the party forcing him out in 1997. Duceppe won the ensuing leadership contest and became the official leader of the Bloc Québécois and Leader of the Opposition. As Leader of the Opposition, Duceppe was invited to join the Queen's Privy Council for Canada^{[citation needed]}, but declined.

In the 1997 general election, the Bloc lost official opposition status, slipping to third place in the House of Commons behind the Reform Party. Of particular note during the campaign was a visit by Duceppe to a cheese factory where he was photographed wearing a hairnet resembling a shower cap. The photo became widely parodied on Canadian television. The Bloc's caucus lost more support during the 2000 election, winning just 38 seats. Over this period, critics derided Duceppe as an ineffectual campaigner, though no serious challenge to his leadership emerged.^{[citation needed]}

When Jean Chrétien stepped down as Prime Minister, to be succeeded by Paul Martin, the Bloc's fortunes improved markedly, particularly after the sponsorship scandal erupted. Duceppe strongly criticized the Liberals over the misuse and misdirection of public funds intended for government advertising in Quebec. During the election's national debates, Duceppe's lucid explanations of Bloc Québécois policies and his chastising of the other national party leaders' promises, resulted in both the French and English media ruling him the best speaker. In the 2004 election, Duceppe's Bloc won 54 seats in the Commons, returning the party to its all-time high-water mark.^{[citation needed]}

With Chrétien's departure, Duceppe became the longest-serving leader of a major party in Canada. With the recent success of the Bloc, and his recently well-received performance as leader, speculation mounted that Duceppe might seek the leadership of the Parti Québécois – particularly when Bernard Landry stepped down as party leader on June 4, 2005. On June 13, 2005, Duceppe announced that he would not run for the leadership of the PQ.^{[citation needed]}

Gilles Duceppe discussing with a voter during the 2011 federal election campaign.

In the 2006 federal election, many Bloc insiders believed that Duceppe's popularity, combined with the unpopularity of the Liberal Party in Quebec, would push the Bloc Québécois over the symbolic majority vote mark among Quebec voters. Many Quebec separatists felt that a strong performance by the Bloc in the 2006 federal election would boost the sovereigntist movement and perhaps set the stage for a new referendum on secession after the anticipated Quebec provincial election expected in 2007. In actuality, a late surge in Conservative and federalist support kept the Bloc's share of the popular vote below 43% giving the Bloc only 51 seats. The unimpressive and lackluster results on election night has called into question the level of separatist support in Quebec. In the March 26, 2007 Quebec provincial election, the Parti Québécois found itself reduced to third place in the National Assembly of Quebec, behind both the governing Quebec Liberal Party and the opposition Action démocratique du Québec. Following this disappointing result, the PQ leader, André Boisclair, announced his resignation on May 8, 2007. Duceppe confirmed on May 11, 2007, that he would seek the PQ leadership but the next day he withdrew from the race. After his withdrawal, Duceppe announced that he would support two-time leadership hopeful Pauline Marois.

In the 2008 federal election, Duceppe led the Bloc Québécois to 49 seats, up one from its pre-dissolution standing of 48. However, the Bloc's share of the popular vote fell again, to 38%, its lowest result since 1997. In the 2011 federal election, the Bloc suffered a massive 43-seat loss—including many seats they'd held since their 1993 breakthrough—cutting them down to a rump of four seats. Much of that support bled to the NDP, which won 58 seats, including a sweep of the Bloc's heartlands in Quebec City and eastern Montreal. Duceppe lost his own seat. Accepting responsibility for the Bloc's crushing defeat, Duceppe announced his pending resignation as Bloc leader soon after the result was beyond doubt. He remained defiant, however, vowing not to rest "until Quebec becomes a country".

Spending allegations

In January 2012, Duceppe was accused of having used funds designated for his parliamentary office to pay the Bloc Québécois' general manager over a seven-year period. Duceppe denied any wrongdoing when testifying before the House of Commons Board of Internal Economy in February. In November 2012, the House of Commons Board of Internal Economy found that Duceppe misused funds. However, the board cannot take disciplinary action as the money was spent before the by-laws around the issue were changed.

Electoral record

Canadian federal by-election, 13 August 1990: Laurier—Sainte-Marie
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±pp
	Independent	Gilles Duceppe	16,818	66.9
	Liberal	Denis Coderre	4,812	19.1	-19.9
	New Democratic	Louise O'Neill	1,821	7.2	-14.4
	Progressive Conservative	Christian Fortin	1,120	4.5	-25.2
	Green	Michel Szabo	395	1.6	-1.9
	Independent	Daniel Perreault	123	0.5
	Independent	Rejean Robidoux	42	0.2
Total valid votes			25,131	100.0
Called due to the death of Mr. Malépart, on 16 November 1989.

Canadian federal election, 1993: Laurier—Sainte-Marie
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±pp	Expenditures
	Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	25,060	61.79		$39,969
	Liberal	Robert Desbiens	9,940	24.51	-14.56	$41,625
	Progressive Conservative	Yvan Routhier	2,156	5.32	-24.34	$19,947
	New Democratic Party	Alain Gravel	1,237	3.05	-18.57	$5,169
	Green	John Tromp	1,050	2.59	-0.93	$1,304
	Natural Law	Pierre Bergeron	652	1.61		$0
	Marxist-Leninist	Normand Chouinard	205	0.51	+0.19	$80
	N/A (Communist League)	Michel Dugré	131	0.32		$507
	Commonwealth	Sophie Brassard	127	0.31	+0.12	$0
Total valid votes			40,558	100.00
Total rejected ballots			1,592
Turnout			42,150	71.29	+1.96
Electors on the lists			59,126
Source: Thirty-fifth General Election, 1993: Official Voting Results, Published by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Financial figures taken from the official contributions and expenses submitted by the candidates, provided by Elections Canada. Percentage change figures are made in relation to the 1988 general election, not the 1990 by-election.

Canadian federal election, 1997: Laurier—Sainte-Marie
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±pp
	Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	26,546	54.7	-7.0
	Liberal	David Ly	11,154	23.0	-1.6
	Progressive Conservative	Yanick Deschênes	5,808	12.0	+6.6
	New Democratic	François Degardin	2,180	4.5	+1.4
	Independent	François Gourd	1,255	2.6
	Green	Dylan Perceval-Maxwell	1,167	2.4	-0.2
	Marxist–Leninist	Serge Lachapelle	338	0.7	+0.2
	Independent	Mathieu Ravignat	123	0.3
Total valid votes			48,571	100.0

Canadian federal election, 2000: Laurier—Sainte-Marie
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±pp
	Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	23,473	52.8	-1.9
	Liberal	Jean Philippe Côté	11,451	25.7	+2.8
	Green	Dylan Perceval-Maxwell	2,169	4.9	+2.5
	Marijuana	Marc-Boris St-Maurice	2,156	4.8
	New Democratic	Richard Chartier	2,121	4.8	+0.3
	Progressive Conservative	Jean François Tessier	1,879	4.2	-7.7
	Alliance	Stéphane Prud'homme	960	2.2
	Marxist–Leninist	Ginette Boutet	269	0.6	-0.1
Total valid votes			44,478	100.0

Canadian federal election, 2004: Laurier
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±pp	Expenditures
	Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	28,728	60.1	+7.3	$69,284
	Liberal	Jean-François Thibault	8,454	17.7	-8.1	$52,945
	New Democratic	François Grégoire	5,779	12.1	+7.3	$5,400
	Green	Dylan Perceval-Maxwell	2,912	6.1	+1.2	$2,801
	Conservative	Pierre Albert	1,224	2.6	-3.8	$4,658
	Marijuana	Nicky Tanguay	572	1.2	-3.7
	Marxist–Leninist	Ginette Boutet	154	0.3	-0.3
Total valid votes/Expense limit			47,823	100.0	$79,214
Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in the 2000 election in the riding of Laurier—Sainte-Marie.

Canadian federal election, 2006: Laurier—Sainte-Marie
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±pp	Expenditures
	Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	26,773	54.69	-5.4	$74,181
	New Democratic	François Grégoire	8,165	16.67	+4.6	$20,195
	Liberal	Soeung Tang	6,095	12.45	-5.2	$12,436
	Green	Dylan Perceval-Maxwell	4,064	8.30	+2.2	$2,265
	Conservative	Carlos De Sousa	3,124	6.38	+3.8	$15,665
	Marijuana	Nicky Tanguay	338	0.69	-0.5
	Independent	Jocelyne Leduc	157	0.32	*
	Marxist–Leninist	Ginette Boutet	137	0.27	-0.0
	Communist	Evelyn Elizabeth Ruiz	100	0.20	*	$926
Total valid votes/Expense limit			48,953	100.00	$79,692
Total rejected ballots			392	0.79
Turnout			49,345	61.26

Canadian federal election, 2008: Laurier—Sainte-Marie
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±pp	Expenditures
	Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	24,103	50.24	−4.45	$71,127
	Liberal	Sébastien Caron	8,798	18.33	+5.88	$30,225
	New Democratic	François Grégoire	8,209	17.11	+0.44	$31,151
	Green	Dylan Perceval-Maxwell	3,801	7.92	-0.38	$7,171
	Conservative	Charles K. Langford	2,320	4.83	−1.55	$5,590
	Rhinoceros	François Yo Gourd	447	0.93	$388
	Marxist–Leninist	Serge Lachapelle	118	0.24	-0.03
	Independent	Daniel "F4J" Laforest	93	0.19	–
	Communist	Samie Pagé-Quirion	86	0.17	-0.03	$898
Total valid votes/Expense limit			47,975	100.00	$84,641
Total rejected ballots			406	0.84
Turnout			48,381	61.10

Canadian federal election, 2011: Laurier—Sainte-Marie
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±pp
	New Democratic	Hélène Laverdière	23,373	46.64	+29.53
	Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	17,991	35.90	-14.34
	Liberal	Philippe Allard	4,976	9.93	-8.40
	Conservative	Charles K. Langford	1,764	3.52	-1.31
	Green	Adam Olivier	1,324	2.64	-5.28
	Rhinoceros	François Yo Gourd	398	0.79	-0.14
	Communist	Sylvain Archambault	137	0.27	+0.10
	Marxist–Leninist	Serge Lachapelle	77	0.15	-0.09
	Independent	Dimitri Mourkes	73	0.15
Total valid votes/Expense limit			50,113	100.00
Total rejected ballots			471	0.93
Turnout			50,584	64.21

External links

• Gilles Duceppe - Parliament of Canada biography
• How'd they vote?: Gilles Duceppe's voting history and quotes
• Gilles Duceppe the longest-serving leader, from CBC Canada Votes 2011