Gilles Duceppe

Gilles Duceppe (born 1947) is a Canadian politician. He is a native of Montreal, and studied political science at the University of Montreal. In his youth he was involved in the Communist Worker's Party, and he later became a trade union negotiator.

In 1990 Duceppe was elected for the newly-formed Bloc Quebecois in a by-election in Montreal's Laurier-Sainte-Marie Riding. In 1997 he was elected leader of the Bloc and consiquently became Leader of the Opposition. Later that year, a general election removed the Bloc from official oppositon status. As of 2003 he is still leader of the Bloc and after Jean Chretien's retirement in February he will be the longest serving leader of a major party.