Gilles Duceppe speaks to reporters at a news conference Wednesday, May 11, 2011 in Laval, Que.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Gilles Duceppe is emerging from retirement to lead the struggling Bloc Québécois in the next election. The official announcement is scheduled for Wednesday, but the news has been confirmed by a former colleague who is involved in the political comeback.
It is a surprising twist in the career of the 67-year-old politician, who suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the NDP's "orange wave" in 2011. Mr. Duceppe lost his seat in Montreal and resigned on election night.
He was replaced by a former Bloc MP, Daniel Paillé, who resigned as leader in 2013 for health reasons. Mr. Paillé's successor was Mario Beaulieu, a French-language defender who never managed to rally all Bloc members to his campaign to put sovereignty at the forefront of the party's agenda. Of the four Bloc MPs elected in 2011, only one – Louis Plamondon – is still representing the party in the House of Commons. The party's second MP, Claude Patry, was elected as a New Democrat and crossed over to the Bloc in 2013.
Officially, Mr. Beaulieu asked Mr. Duceppe to return to the party's helm. A source told The Canadian Press on Tuesday that the current leader will remain in the fold as party president.
"This is not a putsch," a former Bloc official said on Tuesday.
The Bloc has called a news conference for Wednesday morning in Montreal that Mr. Duceppe and Mr. Beaulieu are scheduled to attend.
Mr. Duceppe led the Bloc to electoral victories in Quebec from 1997 until the party's unexpected rout in the election four years ago. He was widely seen to have outgrown his welcome on the federal stage, where he was a vigorous defender of "Quebec's interests," even as voters in Quebec showed clear signs of fatigue with the sovereignty movement.
The NDP was led in the last election by Jack Layton, who struck a chord with Quebeckers with his smiling demeanour and his social-democratic policies. Several Bloc officials felt the party simply could not attack Mr. Layton, who was recovering from cancer and walking with a cane.
Mr. Layton died in 2011 and was replaced by Thomas Mulcair, a former Liberal Quebec minister who has frequently boasted about his time in provincial politics squaring off against the Parti Québécois.
Mr. Plamondon said he has high hopes for the 2015 campaign.
"The ridings were winnable with Mr. Beaulieu, but with Mr. Duceppe, it would be a plus," Mr. Plamondon said. "He [Duceppe] is the one who is best known at the federal level, the one with the most experience."
Mr. Plamondon added the Bloc can also count on help during the fall campaign from the Pierre Karl Peladeau-led Parti Québécois.
Since Mr. Beaulieu's leadership win in last summer, the party has lost key supporters.
Mr. Beaulieu, a hardline sovereigntist who was previously head of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montreal, criticized past Bloc leaders, accusing them in his first speech as leader of having a defeatist attitude toward sovereignty.
It led to a falling-out between Mr. Duceppe and Mr. Beaulieu after the latter said it was time to put an end to what he called 20 years of employing a go-slow approach toward independence.
A social-media statement on Monday from Mr. Beaulieu confirmed a thaw in the relationship.
Mr. Beaulieu announced via Facebook that Mr. Duceppe had accepted an offer to work alongside him during the election campaign in an undefined role.
Former PQ premier Bernard Landry said reconciliation between the two and a change at the top bodes well for the sovereignty movement.
Mr. Landry said Mr. Beaulieu is right to put the interest of the movement ahead of his own.
"I think the friendship between them, and [the fact] Beaulieu is getting out and Duceppe coming in is good news for the sovereigntist movement and the independence movement," he said.
Mr. Duceppe received a huge ovation from the crowd of mourners as he arrived at a Montreal church for the funeral of former PQ premier Jacques Parizeau.
With a file from The Canadian Press