Bloc Québécois hopes to find new leader by April

The Bloc Québécois is holding a general council meeting in Boucherville over the weekend, where it will set the rules for the party's upcoming leadership race.

The party has been without a permanent leader since Gilles Duceppe stepped down in October 2015, following the federal election.

Félix Pinel, 39, has announced his intention to run for the top job. Pinel is a high school teacher from Montreal North who ran unsuccessfully in the riding of Rivière-des-Mille-Îles in 2015.

Parti Québécois MNA Martine Ouellet has also shown interest in the position, saying she plans to make an announcement about her decision Sunday morning.

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Looking to lead

Ouellet has shown interest in leadership before, running for leader of the PQ twice, once in 2014 and again just last year. 

She ran to replace Pauline Marois in 2014, finishing a distant third behind Alexandre Cloutier, himself a distant second behind runaway winner Pierre Karl Péladeau.

In 2016, she came third a second time, ultimately losing to Jean-François Lisée.

During that campaign, she turned heads by proposing that Quebec athletes compete under the Quebec flag at international events such as the Olympics.

She was also a harsh critic of leadership candidates who wouldn't commit to holding a referendum in the first term of a PQ government.

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​Revitalizing the Bloc

In the 2015 election, the Bloc won 10 seats, up from the four it captured in 2011. Still, it fell short of the 12 needed to gain official party status in the House of Commons.

Despite the increase in seats, the Bloc suffered a blow when then-leader Gilles Duceppe failed to win his seat in his own race in his riding of Laurier–Sainte-Marie for the second consecutive time.

Duceppe stepped down shortly after the election, saying, "Of course, I would have liked to have been elected in my own riding, but I am leaving with a sense that I accomplished my duty."

Since then, interim leader and MP for Rivière-du-Nord, Rhéal Fortin, has headed up the party.

He told The Canadian Press in February 2016 that the Bloc would wait to choose a new leader until the new year.

Bloc President Mario Beaulieu recently confirmed that the party hopes to crown its new leader by April 22.

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