In 2003 the conventional wisdom was the Bloc Quebecois was on its way to extinction. It had lost its reason for being and it was widely expected that when Paul Martin took over the Liberal Party and called an election that they would be all but wiped out.
Then the sponsorship scandal happened and Quebecers became very pissed off at the Liberals. The Conservative Party was moribund in Quebec in 2004 so all of those pissed off Quebecers turned to the Bloc. They won a huge number of seats in Quebec and like yesterday they denied a sitting government a majority government.
They had been slowly fading since 2004 until this year they were again looking at being overtaken by one of the national parties. And then Stephen Harper insulted artists and suggested throwing 14 year olds in prison and the Bloc was given a new life yet again. Someone can correct me if I am wrong but I believe the number of seats they won last night exceeded that which they won in 2004.
Anyway, I guess we can expect them to around for at least another two elections, unless of course either the Liberals or the Conservatives does something to again breath new life into them.
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