Bloc MP Claude Bachand is confident sovereignty is alive and well

With the approach of the party's national congress and leadership review, the Bloc is coming under heavy criticism for straying from its central mandate — sovereignty.

Tensions peaked earlier this month, when MP Pierrette Venne was expelled from caucus for suggesting that the party put the sovereignty option "on ice."

Venne also openly criticized Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe's ability to lead.

"She said that publicly, so it's quite obvious that she couldn't stay in the caucus," says Bloc MP Claude Bachand.

'They were not sharing her point of view. They were sharing her pain.'

Venne was accompanied by four other MPs, a fact many interpreted as a sign of widening dissent. Bachand says they accompanied her out of mere compassion.

"They were not sharing her point of view," he says. "They were sharing her pain."

Bachand says Venne was an anomaly — simply too right-wing in a left-leaning party.

But many others sense that the party is already losing its focus. Venne's departure follows four others that have occurred in the past year. In January, Pierre Brien left the federal party for the emerging Action Democratique du Quebec.

These departures are a symptom of the Bloc's inability to address its roots and its principal mandate, say party opponents. Progressive Conservative leadership candidate David Orchard says the Bloc is a living contradiction.

Orchard's rhetoric is laced with references to sovereignty, but not in the sense that many Canadians have come to expect. He refers instead to national sovereignty and is concerned about what he sees as the increasing Americanization of the continent.

He sees no sense in the Bloc's current direction.

"The Bloc is actively pushing to adopt the U.S. dollar as the common currency for North America," says the Saskatchewan farmer and activist.

"If your raison d'etre is to protect the French language and culture in Canada, how can you advocate the United States' economic assimilation?"

Maintaining support

'If your raison d'etre is to protect the French language and culture in Canada, how can you advocate the United States' economic assimilation?'

The party is not spinning sovereignty as a major issue at this point, but this may be less a case of whether it wants to and more a question of whether it can.

Andrew Parkin is an expert on Quebec public opinion with the Centre for Research and Information on Canada.  He says although actual support for sovereignty is not at historic lows, many are questioning the timeliness of the debate.

"The sense that it's going to happen and that it's a relevant issue is very low," Parkin says. "The gains that can be made in reviving this debate are not clear."

Parkin says the sovereignty movement needs some form of antagonism if it is to gain popular momentum once again.

"They've been trying for years to find that catalyst," says Parkin.
The Bloc last saw an opportunity in the Clarity Bill of 1998. "The idea was that would be the trigger to stir resentment within Quebec," Parkin says.

But with the Bloc's current condition also comes an inability to maintain support from within party lines. Dominique Marshall, a Carleton University professor of Quebec social policy, says it's always difficult to maintain the balance between political responsibilities and a separatist mandate.

The provincial Parti Quebecois has also faced this dilemma, she says.

"There's always been the members who say, 'We're not independentist enough and we're focusing too much on good government,' and those who say, 'We should be governing well, seeking as much autonomy as we can in doing so, and that's what's most important,'" Marshall says.

The future

Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe will face a leadership review in April

April is a critical month for the Bloc. The party will debate policy and review Duceppe's leadership at a mid-month national congress.

The federal party's fate also hinges on provincial politics. Quebec Premier Bernard Landry has hinted he might hold an election in April. Landry's PQ is  trailing Jean Charest's Liberals in public opinion  polls, but has recently pulled ahead of Mario Dumont's ADQ.

Bachand admits that if the sovereigntist option is rejected in Quebec, then the Bloc may suffer as well.

"Maybe Quebeckers will say 'Well, I don't want to put all my eggs in the same basket,'" he says.

Venne's departure also reduces the Bloc's seats to 35, effectively putting it on equal footing with the Liberals in the seat-rich province. The next federal election, expected to take place next year, will likely determine the party's fate. 

 

Related Links The Canadian Unity Council portal 2002 CRIC Poll on sovereignty interest A BQ Timeline