Bloc Québécois

Official Opposition (1993–97)

The first test for the Bloc Québécois was the 1992 referendum on the Charlottetown Accord. The party contributed to the No side's 57 per cent victory in Quebec. Then, in the October 1993 federal election, the Bloc won 49.3 per cent of the vote in Quebec and 54 seats — enough to form the Official Opposition in the House of Commons.

In the months leading up to the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, the party played a critical role in convincing the Parti Québécois, led by Jacques Parizeau, to specify in the referendum question that a partnership offer would be made to the rest of Canada. Lucien Bouchard was also a key figure in the referendum campaign. It resulted in 49.4 per cent of the vote for the Yes side — a razor-thin victory for the No side.

The Clarity Act (1997–2000)

After Lucien Bouchard’s departure from the Bloc Québécois, he was succeeded as leader by Michel Gauthier. He was then replaced by Gilles Duceppe in March 1997. In the 1997 federal election, the Bloc suffered a setback but still won 38 per cent of the Quebec vote and 44 seats.

Duceppe worked extensively during the next three years to fight the Canadian government’s passing of Bill C-20, the federal Clarity Act. The Jean Chrétien government presented the Bill in response to the Supreme Court’s Quebec Secession Reference. It stipulates that “political actors” are responsible for determining, among other things, what constitutes a clear question and a clear majority following a province or territory’s referendum on secession from Canada.

The Sponsorship Scandal (2000–06)

The Bloc's representation dropped to 38 seats in the House of Commons after the 2000 election. It was the first time since the 1982 patriation of the Constitution that the Liberal Party held the majority of seats in Quebec. Between the 2000 and 2004 elections, the Bloc denounced federal intervention in provincial jurisdictions. It supported the Kyoto Accord, the legalization of marijuana and same-sex marriage in Canada. (See L2SLGBTQ+ Rights in Canada.) Its role in exposing the misuse of federal funds in Quebec — known as the Sponsorship Scandal — was its most significant action during this time. (See also Gomery Inquiry.) This scandal had a decisive impact on the Quebec vote in the elections of 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2011.

The Bloc's 2004 federal election campaign focused on offering Québécois an alternative to what party members believed was a corrupt federalist system. The party’s slogan, Un parti propre au Québec (literally “A party specific to Quebec”), reinforced that it served the best interests of the province. Ultimately, the party won 54 seats in the House of Commons, its highest number since 1993. Along with the New Democratic Party, the Bloc solidified its position of power in a minority government, potentially gaining the most influence it has ever enjoyed in federal policy. Duceppe maintained that the Bloc would not participate in a coalition government.

From Sovereignty to the Defence of Quebec Rights (2006‒11)

Similarly, the Bloc's 2006 election campaign centered on providing an alternative to possible federalist corruption It was further bolstered by the findings of the Gomery Inquiry. With its slogan, Heureusement, ici, c'est le Bloc (“Thankfully, the Bloc is here”), the Bloc hoped to obtain over 50 per cent of Quebec votes and more than 60 seats in the House of Commons. Ultimately, Bloc candidates obtained 6 seats previously belonging to the Liberals. But the resurgence in the Conservative Party’s popularity in Quebec resulted in a loss of 3 seats from 2004, leaving the Bloc with 51 seats and 42 per cent of Quebec support. As in 2004, Canadians elected a minority government. Again, Duceppe insisted that he would not form a coalition government with any other federal party.

The Bloc maintained their political mandate leading up to the 2008 election. They pressured then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper to address the fiscal imbalance between the provinces, particularly in the case of Quebec. Duceppe petitioned Harper to recognize Quebec as a nation in the Canadian constitution. A motion recognizing Quebec as a distinct nation within a united Canada had already been passed by the House of Commons in 2006. The Bloc's platform leading into the election centered on Quebec's ability to manage its own culture and economic stability, as well as its own approach to the penal system and the system's young offenders. (See Juvenile Justice System; Youth Criminal Justice Act.) On 14 October 2008, the Bloc secured 51 seats in what Duceppe called a victory “toward real progress” — a main factor in denying a Conservative majority government.

Mere weeks after the general election, Harper's Conservative government launched a series of controversial economic proposals. This led the three Opposition parties — the Bloc, the Liberal Party and the NDP — to begin talks regarding a coalition to defeat the Conservatives in a vote of non-confidence. On 1 December 2008, the three party leaders committed, in a historic accord, to introduce a non-confidence motion as early as the following week. Ultimately, however, Harper's request to prorogue government was granted by Governor General Michaëlle Jean. After the Conservatives were able to swing public opinion in their favour, the proposed coalition fell apart.

Uncertain Future, 2011–19

The 2011 election saw the Bloc Québécois fall to the “orange crush” of NDP support, led by leader Jack Layton, that swept through Quebec. The Bloc only elected four candidates and earned 24 per cent of the vote. The Bloc lost its official party status in the House of Commons. Party leader Gilles Duceppe was defeated in his riding of Laurier-Sainte-Marie and resigned after a 14-year career in the party. Vivian Barbot, former president of the Fédération des femmes du Québec (2001–03) and the first Haitian woman elected to the House of Commons, became the Bloc's interim leader.

Following a leadership race, Daniel Paillé was elected leader of the Bloc Québécois on 11 December 2011. In February 2013, an MP from the NDP crossed the floor to join the Bloc caucus, bringing its membership up to five. In September 2013, in the midst of the debate surrounding the Quebec values charter, MP Maria Mourani was expelled from the caucus for opposing the Parti Québécois-led initiative. Following Daniel Paillé's surprise resignation in late 2013, the Bloc held a little-publicized leadership race, which Mario Beaulieu won in June 2014. After August 2014, however, Beaulieu's leadership was contested, with two Bloc MPs leaving the party to sit as independents.

In May 2015, Beaulieu asked Gilles Duceppe to return as party leader in advance of the 2015 federal election. Polls consistently showed that the Bloc had less than 20 per cent support in Quebec. Many felt that Duceppe could revive the party’s flagging fortunes. On 10 June 2015, Duceppe announced he was returning as leader of the Bloc Québécois, while Beaulieu would remain party president.

During elections held on 19 October 2015, the Bloc improved its representation in the House of Commons by electing 10 members. Nevertheless, this result was not enough for the party to be officially recognized by Parliament (the minimum threshold being 12 MPs). Defeated in his constituency and disappointed, Gilles Duceppe stepped down as leader of the party. Rhéal Fortin succeeded him as interim leader.

In March 2017, Martine Ouellet, the former minister of natural resources in Pauline Marois’s provincial government from 2012 to 2014, became head of the Bloc Québécois. However, Ouellet kept her seat in Quebec’s National Assembly. Re-elected in 2014 under the Parti Québécois banner, she sat as an independent MNA between 2017 and 2018.

At the end of February 2018, less than a year after Ouellet became party leader, the Bloc faced an internal crisis. It led to the departure of seven out of ten members of the caucus. These members questioned Ouellet’s leadership style and her emphasis on Quebec independence. (See Separatism in Canada.) They suggested that she focus more on defending Quebec interests at the federal level. They also demanded she submit to a vote of confidence before the next party convention in May 2019. Support for Ouellet continued to decline. In mid-May, the party’s youth wing also withdrew its backing.

In early June 2018, the party held a referendum on Ouellet’s leadership as well as the vision of the party. A majority of the respondents (67 per cent) rejected her leadership, although they reaffirmed their support for the party’s active promotion of Quebec sovereignty. (See also Sovereignty-Association.) Ouellet resigned on 11 June 2018. She was replaced by party president Mario Beaulieu as interim leader. By the end of September, all seven renegade MPs had rejoined the party.

In November 2018, Yves-François Blanchet, a former Parti Québécois minister, officially entered the race for party leader. As the only declared candidate, he was named the new leader of the Bloc Québécois in January 2019.

Resurgence: 2019 and 2021 Federal Elections

Under Yves-François Blanchet, the Bloc aligned itself with the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), a centre-right nationalist party that won the Quebec provincial election in 2018. Blanchet emphasized Quebec nationalism (rather than sovereignty) and support for Quebec’s secularist and controversial Bill 21 during the 2019 federal election campaign. Bill 21 bans some public-sector employees from wearing religious symbols at work, including Muslim hijabs, Sikh turbans and Jewish kippahs. During a French-language debate for the 2019 federal election, Blanchet was criticized for urging Quebeckers to vote for candidates “qui vous ressemblent” (a phrase that can be translated as “who look like you” or “who are like you”). The Bloc also supported environmental protections, including opposition to pipelines.

The Bloc won 32 seats (an increase of 22) in the federal election held on 21 October 2019, including a decisive victory for Blanchet in his riding of Beloeil—Chambly. The BQ reclaimed official party status and finished third overall, leapfrogging the NDP.

Blanchet and the Bloc helped Prime Minister Justin Trudeau keep his first minority government in power by supporting the online content regulations legislation Bill C-10, as well as an extension of the federal wage subsidy to support Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results in the 2021 election were virtually identical for the Bloc. The party again won 32 seats. Blanchet won re-election in his riding with more than 50 per cent of the vote.

Minority Liberal Government, 2021–25

Hopes that Justin Trudeau’s second minority government might crumble quickly were tempered by the supply-and-confidence agreement that the Liberals struck with the NDP in March 2022. The NDP agreed to support the Liberal government in all confidence motions until June 2025.

In a leadership confidence vote held by the BQ in May 2023, Yves-François Blanchet won 97 per cent approval. He saw the results as a vote of confidence in the party’s main goal: Quebec sovereignty. “The vote of confidence is not about me, it's about all of us,” he said. “The vote of confidence, because it has the word'confidence,' must be about Quebec… about the responsibility we have to our citizens to become a country.”

When NDP leader Jagmeet Singh terminated the supply-and-confidence agreement in September 2024, Blanchet took the opportunity to seize the balance of power. He offered to keep the Trudeau government in power in exchange for the passage of bills that would increase pension payments for seniors and protect Quebec’s supply management system in future trade talks.

With Canada in the grip of a post-pandemic malaise and worsening inflation, the Liberals and NDP sank in public opinion polls. By the end of the year, polls put the BQ in second place behind the Conservatives, with between 8 and 11 per cent of the national vote. On 27 December, 338Canada determined that if the election were held then, the Bloc would form the Official Opposition with 45 seats, compared to 39 for the Liberals and 25 for the NDP.

2025 Federal Election

However, Canada’s political deck of cards was reshuffled significantly in early 2025. On 6 January, a beleaguered Trudeau announced his resignation and prorogued Parliament. As a result, Blanchet’s pension bill and supply management bill both came to a halt. Two weeks later, newly inaugurated US president Donald Trump began his second term by threatening a trade war with Canada with the stated goal of annexing it as the 51st state. Nationalism in Canada soared and concerns over the country’s sovereignty grew.

By 23 March 2025, when new Liberal leader and prime minister Mark Carney called a snap election for 28 April, many progressive voters were already consolidating behind the resuscitated Liberals. By 22 April, the Bloc was polling at 6 per cent support, and 338Canada projected the party to finish third with 23 seats. Most troubling for Blanchet and the Bloc, support for Quebec sovereignty dropped to 29 per cent — the lowest level in years — while support in Quebec for Canada’s sovereignty surged. An Angus Reid poll found that the percentage of Quebeckers who said they are “proud or very proud to be Canadian” increased from 45 per cent in December 2024 to 58 per cent in February 2025.

In the campaign’s final days, Blanchet attempted to reverse the tide and rally support for Quebec’s interests. Responding to a question about his earlier statement that the House of Commons is “a foreign parliament because this nation is not mine,” Blanchet doubled down. He called Canada “an artificial country with very little meaning,” language that echoed Donald Trump’s false claims that Canada has an “artificial” border with the US and is “not a real country.” Blanchet also suggested that Justin Trudeau implied the same thing about Canada in 2015 when he referred to it as a “post-national state.” Many observers were highly critical of Blanchet’s comments. Nova Scotia premier Tim Houston wrote an open letter to Blanchet expressing “how insulting this statement is to all Canadians and to our great nation.”

When election day came, the advance polls proved accurate. The Bloc received 6.3 per cent of the national vote and won 23 seats — good for third place in the House. Blanchet handily won re-election in his riding with just under 50 per cent of the vote. With the Liberal Party falling a few seats short of a majority government, Blanchet and the Bloc were also in a position to hold the balance of power. The day after the election, he said, “Quebec wants stability. Federalist parties and our party… should be working together in this crisis. We should not threaten to overthrow the government anytime soon.” He also said that his party would collaborate with the Liberal government “for at least a year.”

(See also Separatism in Canada; Francophone Nationalism in Quebec.)