Bloc Quebecois VP Annie Lessard resigns

Annie Lessard is seen in a photo taken from the Bloc Quebecois Facebook page.

MONTREAL - One of the two remaining Bloc Quebecois MPs says the party's vice-president has resigned after a personality conflict with Leader Mario Beaulieu.

Louis Plamondon said today that Annie Lessard has parted company with the embattled separatist party.

Plamondon said he was not surprised by her departure.

Beaulieu is a hardline separatist and former head of the sovereigntist Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste who became Bloc leader last June.

Since then, two MPs have resigned from caucus and the party's only other sitting MP, Claude Patry, has announced he won't seek re-election in 2015.

Lessard's departure is another blow to the struggling party, which was decimated after the 2011 federal election, losing more than 40 seats in Quebec.