Bloc’s Gilles Duceppe looking for redemption after crushing 2011 defeat

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This article was published 02/08/2015 (3751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Gilles Duceppe will be looking for redemption this fall, and he’ll start close to home, in the same riding where he was defeated in 2011.

At the launch of his party’s electoral campaign Sunday morning in Montreal, the Bloc Quebecois leader confirmed he would run as a candidate in Laurier-Sainte-Marie, “because I like the riding,” he explained.

After chiding Stephen Harper for having launched an overly-long, overly-costly campaign in the middle of summer, he promised to go visit Quebecers without pushing them.

“We won’t let Stephen Harper and his schemes ruin our summer,” he said. “We’ll meet you all across our beautiful Quebec … that we want to see become a country … We will go out to meet you at your rhythm, without pushing you,” he said.

As for electoral promises, they’ll have to wait.

“Before adding to the proposals and the commitments, we want to take the time to listen to you,” Duceppe said, promising a slow start to his campaign.

He nevertheless identified at least two areas where, according to him, the national parties have not defended Quebec’s interests.

“We have to protect our territory against the oil sands pipeline project,” he said, referring to TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline.

“They think it should be decided in Ottawa and Calgary. Me, I think it’s in Quebec that it should be decided,” he said.

He also made reference to the supply management system in the agriculture sector. Protections for Canada’s dairy industry is a major sticking point in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations. A hoped-for deal did not materialize last week, meaning negotiations will resume discreetly and last beyond the timeline of the campaign.

Duceppe opposed the arguments of those who suggest voting strategically to block the Conservatives from being re-elected.

“We have proved…that we can beat the Conservatives in Quebec,” he said. “The problem is that they didn’t beat them in the rest of Canada…They’re coming to ask us to do their jobs. We tried it. We saw the result…and now they don’t talk about Quebec in Ottawa since the NDP has been there.”