OTTAWA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Seven of the 10 Bloc Quebecois members of parliament in the House of Commons of Canada Wednesday announced to quit the party because they dislike the party head Martine Ouellet's leadership style.
The seven made the announcement after a Bloc caucus meeting in Ottawa Wednesday morning. The caucus was divided into two camps. Those who support Ouellet as leader and the seven who accuse her of being authoritarian.
One of the seven MPS is Louis Plamondon, who has been in the House of Commons since 1984, including the last 25 years as a Bloc MP. He said he is "leaving the leader" but "is not leaving the Bloc Quebecois."
The six other MPs are Luc Theriault, Gabriel Ste-Marie, Rheal Fortin, Michel Boudrias, Simon Marcil and Monique Pauze.
"We were faced with two options: either Madame Ouellet stepped down, or we walked," Theriault said.
Ouellet, who does not have a seat in the House of Commons, is a former Parti Quebecois cabinet minister who is still sitting in the Quebec legislature as an independent. She became Bloc leader last March.
The quit is seen as a crushing blow to the Bloc Quebecois, which under then leader Lucien Bouchard formed Canada's official opposition party in the House of Commons after it secured 54 seats in the 1993 election.
Gilles Duceppe then took over the reins of the party and led it in five consecutive elections in which it won at least half of the seats in Quebec. Duceppe also guided the party in the 2011 and 2015 elections, leading them to only four and 10 seats respectively.
"The crisis shaking the Bloc Quebecois is bad for both the party itself and the sovereigntist movement," said the party in a statement.
Bloc Quebecois is devoted to Quebec nationalism and promotion of Quebec sovereignty. It was formed by members of parliament who defected from then federal Progressive Conservative Party and Liberal Party during the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord. The party seeks to create the conditions necessary for the political secession of Quebec from Canada and campaigns actively only within Quebec province during federal elections.
The party has been described as social democratic and separatist. Its support ebbed after the 1995 independence referendum.
