What is the Bloc Québécois?

The Bloc Québécois is a Quebec-only sovereignist federal political party that runs candidates only in Quebec ridings. The Bloc was founded on June 25, 1991 by Lucien Bouchard (a former federal Progressive Conservative Cabinet minister who had resigned in opposition to the Meech Lake constitutional package collapse) and other Quebec MPs who left the Progressive Conservative caucus. The Bloc is the only federal party that does not seek to form government; its purpose is to advance Quebec's interests and the cause of Quebec sovereignty in the federal Parliament.

The Bloc had its peak in the October 25, 1993 federal election, when it won 54 of 75 Quebec seats and became the Official Opposition (because the Progressive Conservatives had collapsed from 169 seats to 2). The Bloc held 51 seats in the 1997 election (still Official Opposition), 38 seats in the 2000 election, 54 seats in the 2004 election, 51 seats in the 2006 election, 49 seats in the 2008 election, and 4 seats in the 2011 election (a near-collapse driven by NDP gains during 'Layton-mania'). The Bloc has rebuilt to about 30 to 35 seats in subsequent elections.

The current Bloc Québécois leader is Yves-François Blanchet, elected January 17, 2019 (his second leadership tenure, the first being briefly 2017 to 2018). Notable past Bloc leaders include Lucien Bouchard (1991 to 1996, who resigned to become Quebec Premier as PQ leader), Michel Gauthier (1996 to 1997), Gilles Duceppe (1997 to 2011 and briefly 2015), Daniel Paillé (2011 to 2014), Mario Beaulieu (2014 to 2017), and Martine Ouellet (2017 to 2018). The Bloc has 35 of 78 Quebec seats in the 45th Parliament (about 45 per cent of Quebec's federal representation).

The Bloc's platform combines sovereignty-or-autonomy positions (the Bloc supports Quebec sovereignty though does not actively pursue it from the federal Parliament), defence of Quebec's interests in federal-provincial relations, support for Quebec's Charter of the French Language (Bill 101), opposition to federal intrusions into provincial jurisdiction, and various social-democratic positions on economic and social policy. The Bloc's natural sister party at the provincial level is the Parti Québécois (PQ), the principal Quebec sovereignist provincial party. The Bloc's official colour is light blue.