Gilles Duceppe
Gilles Duceppe (b. July 22, 1947) is a Canadian politician. He is the son of a well-known Québécois actor, Jean Duceppe, and Helene Rowley.
Duceppe is a native of Montreal, Quebec, and studied political science at the University of Montreal. In his youth he advocated communism and was a card-carrying member of the Communist Worker's Party. He later became a trade union negotiator.
In 1990 Duceppe was elected for the newly-formed Bloc Québécois in a by-election in Montreal's Laurier—Sainte-Marie riding. At the time, he was forced to officially run as an independent. All of the BQ's other MPs had crossed the floor from either the Progressive Conservatives or the Liberals earlier that year. Duceppe's victory in a by-election demonstrated, for the first time, that the party had electoral support in Quebec and was capable of winning elections. Previously, many pundits (and members of other parties) predicted that the BQ would not have any traction with voters.
In 1996, when Lucien Bouchard stepped down as BQ leader to become leader of the Parti Québécois, Duceppe served as interim leader of the party until Michel Gauthier was elected later that year. However, Gauthier was forced out of the party leadership in 1997, and Duceppe became party leader and Leader of the Opposition.
In the 1997 general election the BQ lost official opposition status, slipping to third place in the Canadian House of Commons behind the Reform Party. The party went from 54 to 44 seats, and fell further to 38 seats in the 2000 election. Duceppe was criticized for his ineffective campaign skills in both elections, but no serious challenge to his leadership was mounted.
However, with the sponsorship scandal that erupted soon after Jean Chrétien's departure as Liberal leader in 2003, the BQ's fortunes improved markedly and the Canadian federal election, 2004, saw Duceppe's BQ win 54 seats in the Commons, returning to the party's all-time high (although the unification of the conservative parties means that the BQ will not form the Opposition as it did when it last had as many seats).
With Chrétien's departure, Duceppe became the longest-serving current leader of a major party in Canada.
With recent success of the BQ and his increasingly well-received performance as leader, speculation has grown that Duceppe might seek the leadership of the Parti Québecois.
| Preceded by: Michel Gauthier | Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons (2nd time) | Succeded by: Preston Manning |
| Preceded by: Lucien Bouchard | Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons (1st time) | Succeded by: Michel Gauthier |