Pierre Ducasse

Pierre Ducasse (born August 18, 1972), a Canadian politician, is a prominent New Democratic Party (NDP) activist.

He grew up in Sept-Îles, Quebec, and studied at Université Laval. A party member since age 17, he was appointed interim vice-president of the federal party in 2000, and was elected to the post at the NDP convention in Winnipeg in November 2001.

2003 NDP leadership election

In January 2003, he became the first Québécois to run for the federal leadership of the party. Although he placed fifth among the six candidates, his campaign was widely acclaimed for raising the profile of the NDP in Quebec and vice versa. Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, endorsed him prior to the first ballot.

Jack Layton, the Quebec-born winner of the leadership election, appointed Ducasse to be the party's Quebec lieutenant and official spokesman in Quebec. Ducasse held the post of Quebec Lieutenant through two elections until the spring of 2007 when he was replaced by Thomas Mulcair, a former Member of the National Assembly of Quebec and Quebec cabinet minister.

Federal elections

Ducasse has been the NDP candidate for the riding of Manicouagan three times, first in the federal election of 1997 then in the 2004 Canadian federal election, and then in the 2006 election. In 2004, he finished third in a race won by Gérard Asselin of the Bloc Québécois.

In the 2006 Canadian Election, Ducasse placed fourth, improving his results to 4,657 votes or 12.8%. He is currently the nominated NDP candidate for the next federal election in the riding of Hull-Aylmer.

Quotations

*"Pour avoir les résultats que vous n'avez jamais eus, il faut faire ce que vous n'avez jamais fait" (To get the results you have never had, you must do what you have never done.) - Pierre Ducasse, NDP Leadership Convention

*"This party is suffering from electile dysfunction." - Pierre Ducasse, NDP Leadership Campaign Tour, 2002-03

External links

* [http://www.pierreducasse.ca/ Pierre Ducasse campaign website]
* [http://www.pierreducasse.ca/2003/speech_discours.html Ducasse's speech to the leadership convention]
* [http://www.pierreducasse.ca/ecodema/ Ducasse's Ecodema website]