The next great sovereignist

>> Yves Duhaime waits quietly in the wings

by PHILIP PREVILLE

At a political gathering last fall, Liberal leader Daniel Johnson and his aides were milling about in a hotel lobby, engaging the assembled politicos in conversation and sifting for inside information. Conversation in one corner inevitably turned to Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe--his poor election campaign last year, his less-than-stellar record as leader, his inevitably numbered days in the job. But who might replace him? The politicos bandied about the names of many more-or-less obscure Bloc MPs, advisers and hacks.

Then, in a small lull in conversation, one of Johnson's top aides--the quiet, cunning type of political operative--piped in with a mere three words that sounded so concise, so authoritative, it was as though they were cast in pewter: "We watch Duhaime."

Yves Duhaime is, of course, the businessman and former Lévesque-era cabinet minister who finished second to Duceppe in last March's Bloc leadership race. A firebrand orator, he ran what was, at the time, the best campaign for the leadership by far. Duhaime remained bitter after the loss, refusing to endorse Duceppe as leader. He seemed resentful, perhaps due to the fact that Premier Bouchard had stacked the cards in Duceppe's favor from the get-go.

Now the tides have turned. Duceppe, a bright man but a poor campaigner, is quickly becoming an embarrassment to the sovereignist cause, suffering hefty ridicule in the national press not seen since Joe Clark's early days as Tory leader in the mid-'70s. And while Duhaime would never admit he's waiting to take over Duceppe's job, if you read between the lines of what he has to say, his intentions are not hard to fathom.

Case in point: Duhaime told the Mirror that he wants to return to political life, but has little interest in being elected to Quebec City. "I've already served in the Assemblée nationale, and I'm not predisposed towards returning there," Duhaime said from his home in northern Quebec.

Logically, that suggests he has set his sights on the Bloc in Ottawa. He continues to work for the Bloc in his riding, but remains extremely critical of the party and its leadership. "There were problems within the Bloc [before the election], and there are still problems within the Bloc now. We ran a horrible campaign--we could not have done worse."

Does he still feel, as he said back when Duceppe took over the Bloc leadership, that "Duceppe has yet to prove himself as a party leader?" "I have no intention of revisiting past statements," Duhaime said, "but what was said remains said." In other words, no retraction, no vote of confidence; only a quiet declaration of war. And the political classes are watching, waiting for the fight to break out.