MP Jean-Francois Fortin quits Bloc Quebecois caucus: Is the sovereignty movement on hold?

The Bloc Quebecois has lost an MP.

Jean-Francois Fortin announced on Tuesday that he will sit as an independent after penning a scathing letter deriding the "radicalization" of the party at the hands of newly minted leader Mario Beaulieu.

In the letter — written in French — Fortin says that BQ is no longer the party that he joined. He claims that Beaulieu's "dogmatic" approach is dividing the sovereignty movement.

"The arrival of the new leader, Mario Beaulieu, who puts forward a one-dimensional and uncompromising approach, has ended the credibility established by Gilles Duceppe and continued by Daniel Paille, two leaders who deserved great respect," Fortin wrote.

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Beaulieu won the BQ leadership in June and, almost immediately, became a divisive figure within the party after accusing Duceppe and Paille of being too passive on the issue of sovereignty.

"Fortin’s departure only adds to Beaulieu’s troubles," notes the Montreal Gazette.

"Considered too hardline, none of the remaining Bloc MPs supported his leadership from the start and only reluctantly rallied to him after he won. Resignation rumours were in the air.

"Beaulieu’s arrival also sparked resignations by riding executives, while candidates who said they were thinking of running for the Bloc in 2015 election desisted because they found Beaulieu too radical."

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The BQ now only has 3 MPs, about 20,000 members and rake-in only 4.5 per cent in the opinion polls -- a far cry from the days when they were her royal majesty's official opposition with 54 seats.

With the BQ's apparent implosion and the Parti Quebecois' stunning defeat in the provincial election earlier this year, you would think the separatists would have to put their sovereignty ambitions on hold.

But in a recent interview with the Canadian Press, Beaulieu suggested that it's time to push even harder.

"It may seem paradoxical, but to me the last [provincial] election in April demonstrated that we have to speak about independence before, during and after elections," Beaulieu said earlier this month.

"We used the same wait-and-see approach for 20 years and it brought us to a very strong defeat of the Bloc Québécois in 2011 and a defeat of the Parti Québécois last April.

"I think we have to change strategies and bring back independence to the forefront."

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