Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe is losing one of his MPs. Louise Thibault (right), the two-term MP for the eastern Quebec riding of Rimouski-Neigette-Témiscouata—Les Basques.
Thibault announced today that she will quit the Bloc and sit as an independent, citing differences of opinion with Duceppe.
She says that she cannot be part of a party that doesn’t allow for dissent and she blames Duceppe for being too rigid. Thibault voted to overturn Canada’s same-sex marriage legislation. Duceppe had ordered his caucus to vote in support of same-sex marriage rights. It’s not clear why she’s decided to quit now.
She has decided to sit as an independent because she says she is still an avowed separatist and, as a result, could not join one of the federalist parties in the House.
Before entering politics, Thibault was a longtime federal bureaucrat.
She has been the party's public works and government services critic.
Thibault makes four MPs the Bloc has lost this session.
Michel Gauthier announced earlier this month he was leaving for health reasons, Yvan Loubier ran unsuccessfully for the Parti Quebecois, and Bernard Sauvageau died in a car accident last summer.
So, with that there are now three independents in the House and two are from Quebec: Thibault and Andre Arthur, elected as an Independent in Portneuf. Thunder Bay’s Joe Commuzzi was kicked out of the Liberal caucus to become an independent.