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Duceppe backtracks from goal of majority support in Quebec

Last Updated: Monday, January 16, 2006 | 11:13 PM ET

CBC News
With polls showing Tory popularity rising in Quebec, Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe seemed to backpedal Monday on earlier hopes of winning a majority in the province.

Last month, Duceppe said if the Bloc received 50 per cent plus one of the popular vote, it would be symbolic – the first time the sovereignty movement could claim it crossed the threshold.

On Monday, he denied having said he hoped to achieve a majority, telling a Montreal radio host that was merely speculation by journalists. He said his main objective has always been to improve on the 2004 results.

"I said improve, always improve," Duceppe told a Montreal radio host. "That is to say more than 54 MPs and more than 48 per cent of the popular vote."

The Bloc won 54 of Quebec's 75 seats in last year's federal election, with the Liberals picking up the remaining 21.

But neither the Bloc nor the provincial Parti Quebecois has ever exceeded 50 per cent of the popular vote.

The Bloc grabbed 48.8 per cent in 2004.

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