In its original form, the Bloc Québécois was a loose alliance of parliamentarians rather than a formal political party. Plamondon was one of the first Bloquistes to promote the creation of a strong party organization to challenge the Progressive Conservative Party's Quebec machine in the next federal election. Others, including Lucien Bouchard, initially favoured a weaker party structure that would simply allow Bloc candidates to have their party designation appear on the ballot. The vision favoured by Plamondon ultimately won out, and the Bloc became a strong political organization throughout Quebec.