Gilles Duceppe

Gilles Duceppe (2007)

Gilles Duceppe (born July 22, 1947 in Montreal , Québec ) is a Canadian politician and trade union official . From 1997 to 2011 he was chairman of the separatist movement Bloc Québécois . In the Canadian House of Commons , he represented the Laurier-Sainte-Marie constituency in central Montreal. His father is the actor Jean Duceppe .

biography

Duceppe studied political science at the Université de Montréal , but did not graduate. In 1968 he became vice-president of the student association Union générale des étudiants du Québec , and in 1970 publisher of the university newspaper Quartier Libre . During his student days he sympathized with communism and was briefly a member of the Communist Workers' Party ( Parti communiste ouvrier ). In 1972 he began a career as a union activist, and by 1986 he was promoted to chief negotiator of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux , the second largest trade union in Québec .

In December 1990 Duceppe was a candidate for the Bloc Québecois in a by-election and was elected as a Member of the House of Commons. Legally, he entered at the time as a non-party , since the Bloc recently-established was not registered as a party (all other members of the party were previously out of during the year Liberal Party or the conservative Progressive Party resigned). Duceppe's victory proved that, contrary to the opinion of numerous political experts, the Bloc could appeal to French-speaking voters in Québec and win elections.

When party founder Lucien Bouchard resigned in January 1996 and switched to provincial politics, Duceppe took over the presidency for a month, until Bouchard's successor Michel Gauthier was elected . But Gauthier resigned in February 1997, after which Ducuppe was elected on March 15, 1997 as the new party chairman. Since the Bloc was the second largest party, he also took on the role of official opposition leader. As such, he would have been entitled to be admitted to the Canadian Privy Council , but he refused.

In the 1997 general election , the Bloc lost ten seats and fell behind the Reform Party to third place. During the election campaign, Duceppe had visited a cheese factory and was photographed wearing a hygienic hood that looked like a bathing cap. This photo was later parodied in comedy shows for months . In the general election of 2000 , the Bloc achieved its worst result to date, losing another six seats.

After the resignation of the liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the inauguration of Paul Martin , the Bloc was able to grow again, especially after the sponsorship scandal was exposed . In the 2004 general election , the Bloc was able to gain nine percent and equalize its best result. Due to Duceppe's general popularity among the population, the Bloc hoped for an absolute majority in Québec in the 2006 general election , but the election was disappointing with three seats lost.

On May 11, 2007, Duceppe publicly declared his interest in chairing the Parti Québécois , which would have meant a change to provincial politics. But the very next day he withdrew his official candidacy. In the 2011 general election , the Bloc Québécois suffered a devastating defeat and lost 43 of 47 seats. Duceppe was also defeated in his constituency, whereupon he resigned as party chairman with immediate effect.

Web links

Commons : Gilles Duceppe  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Gilles Duceppe - biographical information on the website of the Canadian Parliament (English)
• Gilles Duceppe ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .