Former Parti Québecois (PQ) leadership candidate Martine Ouellet has officially entered the race to lead the Bloc Québécois.
She turned in the necessary papers in Montreal on Sunday.
Ouellet, 47, is a twice-failed PQ leadership candidate who now sits in Quebec’s legislature as an independent.
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She finished third in the last leadership race in 2016, where she was the only candidate who promised to hold a sovereignty referendum in a first mandate if elected premier.
At a press conference in Montreal Sunday, Ouellet reiterated her commitment to the sovereignist cause.
“We’ll prepare the independence,” she said, adding that the Bloc was the ideal party to push the movement forward.
“The best place I think to prepare the independence is with the Bloc Québécois in Ottawa because all the power, tools that we need to become the next country of the United Nations, are in Ottawa.”
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Last week, Ouellet said she wants 50 per cent of the Bloc’s candidates to be women in the next federal election in 2019.
The Bloc will choose a new leader April 22.
— With a file from Global’s Navneet Pall
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