the bloc québécois was founded in 1991 by lucien bouchard, who also became its first leader, in order to represent and advocate the quebec sovereignty movement at the federal level in the parliament of canada. the bloc was always the party with the biggest number of seats in quebec between 1993 and 2011, and again since 2019. they are usually the second or third biggest party in the house of commons. in the 2011 federal election, the party won only 4 seats. in the 2019 federal election, the party won 32 seats. in the 2021 federal election, the party won 32 seats in the house of commons.