Gilles Duceppe preparing comeback as leader of Bloc Qubcois

Former Bloc Qubcois leader Gilles Duceppe is preparing to come back as the party's leader, just in time for the 2015 election campaign, Radio-Canada has learned.

The surprise news broke as a who's who of the Quebec sovereignty movement gathered in Montreal for the state funeral of former Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau.

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Until Tuesday, Duceppewas thoughtto be onlyassisting and advising current leader Mario Beaulieu on the upcoming campaign. Beaulieu does not currently have aseat in the House of Commons.

On FacebookMonday, Beaulieu wrote that he'd asked Duceppe to contribute to the party, and Duceppe"to his delight" had accepted his proposal. Duceppe's exactrole wasyet to be discussed, he said then.

The pair are scheduled to hold a press conference together at 10:30 a.m. ET onWednesday at the party's Montreal headquarters. Until then, they will not comment further in order to respect the national mourning and memory ofParizeau, the party said.

Pollster prompted meeting

Radio-Canada's Daniel ThibeaultreportsBeaulieu consulted a pollster, who predicted the Bloc could not get more than 20 per cent of the vote in Quebec under his leadership. (It got23 per cent in 2011, translating into only four seats.)

Under Duceppe, the pollster suggested, the party could win almost 30 per cent of the popular vote.

Beaulieurealized he couldn't boost the Bloc's popularityand asked to meet with Duceppe. They met the same day and the final deal was worked out Mondaynight,sources told Thibeault.

The party executive is expected to holda teleconference Tuesdayevening to discuss rule changes to facilitate Duceppe's return. The roles of "leader" and "party president," currently both held by Beaulieu,couldbe split: Duceppe wouldrun for the former and Beaulieu would keep the latter.

Although not official until approved by the party's general council, it's thought to be a fait accompli.

It's unclear in what ridingDuceppewould run.

Defeat a 'blip'

Duceppe had both criticized andexpressed support for Beaulieu's leadership on various occasions.

Duceppe, who was first elected as a Bloc MP in 1990 served as leader for14 years,was a strong campaigner who distinguished himself in past election debates.

Veteran BQ MP Louis Plamondon told reporters coveringquestion period onMonday that Duceppe'spresence and participation in the approaching campaign would be a "big plus" for the sovereignty movement.

In French, he also said Duceppe has"extraordinary credibility with allQuebecers."

Hedownplayedthe BQ's crushing defeat in Quebec in the 2011 election, whenit was reduced from 47 seats at dissolution to only four, losing official party status in the process.He called it a "blip" and said the Bloc is still needed in Ottawa.

Thoselosses werenot a rejection of the BQ, Plamondon said, but an expression of sympathy for Jack Layton's NDP.

The party will have nominated 40 candidates by the end of June,Plamondonsaid. He expressed optimismabout a comeback.

Before its 2011 collapse, the Bloc's worst showing in the province was 33 seats. If the BQ could even approach that figure in the fall, NDP Leader TomMulcair'shopes ofgoverning in2015 would suffer a significant blow.

"It's a new campaign. Those who must be very worried now are Mr. Mulcair, Mr. Harper and Mr. Trudeau," said former BQ MP Daniel Turp, who now advises Parti Quebecois leader Pierre-Karl Peladeau.

"Now Quebecers will realize that Mr. Mulcair didn't deliver, didn't do much," Turp said.

Comeback possible after infighting?

Defections and departures over policy differences have left the BQ with only two seats, and of the two that remain,only Plamondon intends to run for re-election.

Beaulieu's hardline approach to sovereignty has alienated soft nationalist support for the party and hascost both MPs and members.

The party's vice-president, Annie Lessard, left late last year over personality differences.

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Last October, former BQ leadership challenger Jean-FranoisFortin joined forces with a New Democrat to create a new party, Forces et Dmocratie, that will fieldcandidates this fall. The new party focusesless on sovereignty and more onbetter representation for Quebec's regions in Ottawa.

Fortin called Beaulieu's leadership approach divisive and radical.

Ex-BQ MPMaria Mourani, who parted companywith the sovereignty movement during the debate over Quebec's secular charter and will run for the New Democrats in 2015, reacted with surprise to Tuesday's news. Shesaid in French that the priority of Quebecers was not to live in the past.

Another former BQ MP, Andre Bellavance, nowsits as an Indpendent and hassaid he will notrunagain.

Duceppewas rumoured to be interested in a jump to provincial politics and had been courted to lead the Parti Qubbois. But he neverfollowedthrough toactually run for the leadership.

In 2012, he insisted he was finished with politics, federal or provincial.

"I'm sure that if Mr. Parizeau was still alive...he would be very happy to know that Mr. Duceppe will be the leader of the Bloc Quebecois again," Turptold CBC News.