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Gilles Duceppe has one ultimate goal. Sovereignty.
And his sovereigntist roots go way back. His father - a famous Quebec actor - was a founding member of the NDP. So, politics played a big part in Duceppe's life.
But one incident left quite a mark. When he was in grade six, the French kids had to stand in the aisle on an English school bus. When Duceppe complained, the teacher slapped him, he slapped her back - and never forgot it.
In the late Sixties, Duceppe was inspired by Rene Levesque. And by the Eighties, he'd embraced sovereignty. Since then, he's seen it all.
The first referendum. Quebec's refusal to sign on to the constitution. The failure of Meech Lake... and the birth of the Bloc Quebecois. In fact, in 1990, Duceppe was the first Bloc MP in Ottawa. Then in '95, after the second referendum, Lucien Bouchard resigned, and by '97, Duceppe was party leader.
Now, as the Bloc celebrates its twentieth anniversary, he's travelling the country, to talk sovereignty.
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