The Bloc Quebecois introduced 10 new candidates at an event in Montreal Friday night.
The party made the announcement in a small bar in the Hochelaga riding. It currently belongs to the NDP, but before that it was held by the Bloc.
Among the party’s new faces is Sophie Stanke, a former journalist.
“I find it's very important that we have a voice, a Quebec voice in Ottawa. I don't recognize our Canada anymore,” she said.
When the dust settled after the 2011 election, the Bloc was left with only four of its 47 seats, mainly lost to the NDP. The party even lost its official status in the House of Commons. But Leader Gilles Duceppe says this time will be different.
“We'll come with proposals to respond to the problems Quebecers are facing, and we're the only ones able to do so,” he said.
Duceppe was the only leader of a party that has seats in the House of Commons who wasn’t invited to Thursday night's debate in Toronto.
During the debate, there was a heated exchange between Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Tom Mulcair regarding the Clarity Act and what it would take to allow Quebec to separate.
“Those people are discussing the way we should act without our own participation,” Duceppe said.
The party still needs to announce five more candidates in order to cover all of Quebec’s 78 ridings.
The NDP is well ahead of the Bloc Quebecois in recent polls, and it appears the party has a lot of work to do to win back the ridings it lost.
Candidate Simon Marchand said he believes the party has what it takes to convince Quebecers to vote for them.
“All the young people that we bring in that's going to make the biggest difference, now we have the time and the energy to explain why the Bloc Quebecois is the better solution,” he said.
