The head of the Bloc Québécois, Martine Ouellet, will make an announcement later today amid a growing revolt over her leadership of the sovereigntist party.
Senior party officials are meeting this morning in Montreal, ostensibly to discuss the fate of a group of Bloc MPs who bolted from caucus earlier this week. Ouellet is expected to address the media shortly afterward.
Their abrupt departure leaves the party with only three MPs. In an open letter published today in the Journal de Montréal, the rebel MPs said Ouellet's leadership was ruining the party.
"When a car is going 200 km/h toward a wall, the loyalty of the co-pilot is in saying 'If we continue like this we're going to crash,'" the letter reads.
On Friday, 21 former Bloc MPs — including ex-leader Gilles Duceppe — signed an open letter calling on Ouellet to step down.
"Ouellet weakened the voice of Quebec in Ottawa at the very moment that it needs a strong voice," the letter said.
Ouellet's critics say her "intransigent" leadership style has alienated many within the party. Since taking over the Bloc last year, she's attempted to force the party to focus more on promoting sovereignty.
That was met with resistance from a majority of the caucus, who defended the party's traditional role of defending Quebec's interests in Ottawa. Promoting sovereignty is best left to the Parti Québécois, they argued.
In their letter to the Journal, the disaffected Bloc MPs described the party's responsibility as "protecting Quebec from the negative effects of the federal straightjacket."
Ouellet herself does not have a seat in the House of Commons, complicating her efforts to impose her will on the caucus.
After taking over the Bloc's leadership last year, she left the PQ and now sits as an independent in the provincial legislature.
Her current leadership woes can be traced to a speech she gave last month to supporters, during which she called out Bloc MPs for their "resistance" to her new goals for the party.
In a Facebook post Friday, the party said the "door was open" for the rebel MPs to return to caucus.
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