Bloc Québécois

The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was formed by Members of Parliament who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative Party and Liberal Party. BQ founder Lucien Bouchard was a cabinet minister in the federal Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney. The BQ seeks to create the conditions necessary for the political secession of Quebec from Canada and campaigns actively only within the province during federal elections. English-speaking Canadians commonly refer to the party as "the Bloc"; the party is sometimes known as the BQ in the English-speaking media. The party has been described as social-democratic and separatist. The Bloc won four seats in the 2011 federal election, fewer than the 12 required for official party status in the House of Commons, and by August 2014 had been reduced to two seats because of resignations and expulsions. It remained a registered political party, but was tied with the two-seat Green Party and Strength in Democracy as the smallest party in the House of Commons of Canada. In the 2015 federal election, the Bloc won 10 seats in the House of Commons, even though the party's leader Gilles Duceppe failed to win a seat. The Bloc was the largest party in Quebec, and either the second or third largest party in the House of Commons, for seven straight federal elections, from the 1993 election until the 2011 election when the party won only four seats and was defeated in Quebec by the New Democratic Party. From 1993-1997, as the second largest party in Parliament, Bloc Québécois was Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.