Bloc Quebecois holds pre-session meeting in Saguenay as Blanchet celebrates 5 years

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, left, is welcomed by Bloc MPs Luc Désilets, Sylvie Bérubé, and René Villemure to a five-year celebration of his leadership, Tuesday, January 23, 2024 in Saguenay, Que. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot)

The Bloc Québécois is gathering in Saguenay on Wednesday to prepare for the new parliamentary session and show solidarity behind leader Yves-François Blanchet, who just celebrated five years as head of the party.

Meeting in the riding they hope to wrest from the Conservatives, the Bloc says it intends to discuss the "proposals" they will start putting forward as early as next week.

Speaking on Tuesday to supporters and his caucus, already gathered at Les Bleuets for a celebration, Blanchet maintained that his team would be facing politics in a positive way.

"I get asked about 83 times a day, 'Oh, are you terrified of [Conservative leader Pierre] Poilievre?' Not at all," he said during a speech.

Blanchet said he and his caucus plan to avoid negative politics.

"We'll take the darkest issues and turn them into something positive," he said. "Then, we're going to make proposals (...) we're going to want this to get back to the people so that people can compare, because that's what democracy is all about."

However, Blanchet did have a message for the Conservatives and, in particular, Chicoutimi-Le Fjord MP Richard Martel.

"There aren't 55 Conservative ridings we want to conquer (...), but Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, sorry Richard, you're really at the top of the list," he said, drawing applause.

In an interview earlier this month, Blanchet told The Canadian Press that the coveted riding is "nationalist and, in many ways in the past, sovereignist."

Justin Trudeau's Liberals have 35 MPs in Quebec, three more than the Bloc Québécois, though they garnered more votes in the 2021 general election.

Blanchet says he hopes his party will win more seats when voters are called back to the polls.

He says he hopes "to be the unmistakable voice of Quebec in the federal parliament."

Blanchet was welcomed on stage Tuesday by former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe, who led the sovereignist party for 14 years.

"The Bloc was in temporary difficulties," he summarized, referring to the tensions that imploded under Martine Ouellet's leadership.

Duceppe says that in the last five years, Blanchet has brought the party back on track with hard "work, effort and success," calling it "a great determination to achieve our objectives and keep going."

"I think Yves-François has taken up the work in a rather extraordinary way," he continued.

Duceppe goes on to say that, at several points in Quebec's history, support for sovereignty has rebounded, thwarting the expectations of many.

"History shows us that there is nothing surprising; there are only unexpected things," he said.

The Bloc Québécois caucus retreat in Saguenay officially kicks off on Wednesday and is scheduled to last two days.

Blanchet was crowned leader of the Bloc Québécois in January 2019.

He previously served as a minister in Pauline Marois' provincial Parti Québécois (PQ) government.

Before entering politics, the Bloc leader was the manager of singer Éric Lapointe and president of the Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo (ADISQ).

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 24, 2024.