the bloc was practically eliminated from the scene, losing 43 seats. this reduced them to a rump of four seats, only a third of the number required for official party status. in many cases, they lost seats they held since their debut performance in 1993. with few exceptions, their support bled over to the ndp. notably, the bloc lost all but one seat in the montreal area. this included all of their seats in the eastern part of the city, the birthplace of the sovereigntist movement. the bloc went into the election holding all but one seat in eastern montreal, but lost all of them to the ndp. they also lost all or most of their seats in their longstanding strongholds in the rest of the province, such as quebec city and central quebec. several bloc mps who had never had serious difficulty being reelected ended up losing their seats in landslides. bloc leader gilles duceppe, at the time the longest-tenured party leader in canada, lost his seat in laurier—sainte-marie to ndp challenger hélène laverdière.