'Renewed' Bloc Quebecois launches nationalist, Quebec-only election campaign

The Bloc Quebecois is pitching itself to voters as a renewed party represented by a fresh generation of young candidates ready to fight exclusively for Quebec's interests in Ottawa.

Party leader Yves-Francois Blanchet was in Quebec City today to launch the Bloc's campaign, which will only field candidates in the province's 78 federal electoral ridings.

Blanchet says Quebecers have flirted with the Conservatives, the New Democrats and most recently, the Liberals, but those parties have either hurt their interests or brought little to the province's voters.

He says the mission of the Bloc is not to win government, but to send a strong contingent to Ottawa in order to pressure the party that does control Parliament to respect Quebec.

Blanchet says his party embodies Quebecers' values of secularism, gender equality and love for the environment, and the Bloc's platform will reflect what he described as a new Quebec nationalism.

He also listed a series of grievances he had against the federal government, including what he called its obsession with the fossil fuel industry.