Bloc Qubcois makes gains, but Gilles Duceppe loses his riding

The leadership of the Bloc Qubcois is uncertain once again as Gilles Duceppe who came out of retirement to try to revive the party's flagging fortuneslostinLaurierSainteMarie.

"Certainly, these are not the results we were hoping for, but we really led a great campaign," Duceppe told a crowdof supporters as theychanted "'Duceppe."

This marks the leader's second straight defeat in the riding in which he built his political career, losing once again to the NDP incumbent,HlneLaverdire.

With126 out of230 pollscounted, Laverdire had 36 per cent of the vote,compared to Duceppe's29 per cent.

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9 gains from NDP

The Bloc was elected 10 ridings.

Nine of the 10ridings were gains from the NDP.Ridings that were swept in the Orange Wave in 2011 now voted for the Bloc, including:

• Joliette
• La Pointe-de-l'le (where former Bloc leader Mario Beaulieuwon)
• Manicouagan
• Mirabel
• Montcalm
• Pierre-Boucher-Les Patriotes-Verchres
• Repentigny
• Rivire-du-Nord
• Terrebonne

"We thought we almost disappeared but we are more present than we were before. We came a long way," Duceppe said, reiterating his stance on sovereignty.

"I think we're better off being a country in the worldthan a province in Canada," he said as the crowd cheered.

"We clearly stated our convictions, in our hearts, in our minds...I tell you now, and all these youths who invested in the BQ...I came back for youyoungsters. And I count on you for the next steps."

2011 collapse

Duceppe, an MP for 21 years and leader of the Bloc for 14, resigned after the dire 2011 election results when the party was reduced to just fourseats from 47 at dissolution.

Swept away bythe Orange Wave, DuceppelostLaurierSainte-Marie to Laverdire by about 5,000 votes.

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Things got worse for the party when Mario Beaulieu, a hardline separatist, was named new leader of the party.Two MPs quit to sit as independents.

Another Bloc MP, Maria Mouraniwas expelled from the partyin 2013 after she criticized the Parti Qubcois's proposed secular charter a plan to bar civil servants, even daycare workers and teachers, from wearing overt religious symbols while on the job.Mouranisat as an independent before crossing the floor in 2014 to sit as a New Democrat. This time, sheran under the NDP banner.

Heading into this election with just twoseats in the House of Commons, the party enticedDuceppeback from retirement in June, just weeks before the Aug. 2 election call, when the Bloc was slumped in the polls and in disarray.

Political analysts predictedDuceppe's return would be a game-changer, at the expense of the NDP in Quebec.

At 68, Duceppe is the oldest of the federal party leaders.However, he showed Quebecers he still had the physical stamina for the job pedalling around Quebec early in the campaign withParti QubcoisLeader Pierre Karl Pladeau.

Midway through the campaign,withthe Bloc stalled in the polls, an editorial cartoon showedthe wheels having fallen off the Bloc's tandem bike.

Then came the niqab issue and a targeted attack against NDP Leader Tom Mulcair's position backing a woman's right to cover her face while taking the Canadian citizenship oath.

More than any other, that issue may have soured the NDP's popularity in Quebec.

However, it was not enough to revive the Bloc Qubcois, which needs 12 seats to attain official party status in Parliament. Duceppe's defeat makes the Bloc's future even more uncertain.