Separatists won provincial elections in Quebec on Monday, with a promise to hold a vote on leaving Canada after U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office, testing Prime Minister Mark Carney’s message of national unity.
But the Parti Quebecois fell short of a majority government, offering some solace for the federalist camp.
The PQ win still upends Canada’s political landscape as the country confronts a trade war and annexation threats leveled by the United States.
It also comes just two weeks before Alberta holds a vote on whether it wants to begin the process of leaving Canada.
The results make PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, a 49-year-old lawyer known by his initials PSPP, Quebec’s next premier.
At a jubilant victory party in Montreal, he invoked “the courageous struggle” francophones have endured in a part of the world increasingly dominated by English speakers.
That struggle “will find meaning when [francophones] obtain their own country,” he said.
“We deserve it,” he added, calling a referendum a chance “to decide what our national future will be.”
The PQ replaces the Coalition for Quebec’s Future (CAQ), that advocated strongly for the province’s distinctive culture within Canada, without supporting separatism.
As of Tuesday morning, the PQ was projected to have 59 seats in Quebec’s 127-seat provincial legislature, known as the national assembly. The Quebec Liberal Party was projected to have 40 seats, with the Conservative Party of Quebec projected to take 19.
The CAQ was not projected to win any seats as of Tuesday morning.
Lacking a majority, the PQ will struggle to advance its separatist agenda.
The Liberals and Conservatives, both declared they would never back a referendum on independence.
Independence after Trump?
Carney congratulated PSPP, saying that “building a stronger Quebec is core to our mission of building a stronger Canada.”
“I look forward to working with you to support QuĂ©bec’s businesses and workers impacted by tariffs, create more good jobs, work to end homelessness, and get more homes built across QuĂ©bec,” Carney’s statement continued.
The prime minister is popular in Quebec, and the separatist win was not seen as a repudiation of his stance toward Trump, whose confrontational policies have infuriated Canadians.
Instead, the PQ’s rise after more than a decade in opposition has been tied to frustration over affordability and an enduring desire to protect the French language in a majority anglophone country.
Surveys suggest that only about 30 per cent of Quebecers want independence, but St-Pierre Plamondon has maintained he will call a referendum on leaving Canada, just not while Trump is in office.
He has said a decision on Quebec’s independence “requires conditions that allow for an informed and calm debate.”
That shouldn’t be “hijacked by the theatrics of an unpredictable president,” he added, ruling out a referendum until at least 2029.
Quebec has held two previous votes on leaving Canada. Federalists won comfortably in 1980, but the 1995 result was excruciatingly close, with just 50.58 per cent voting to stay in Canada.
First-time voter Alexia Gomez, 19, invoked tensions with the United States when she told AFP she opposed an independence referendum.
“If Quebec becomes independent it would make us politically, economically and militarily vulnerable,” she said.
Lydie Periard, a 22-year-old student, said she was “very worried” by the PQ’s victory, condemning what she termed the party’s “populist” stance on immigration. The PQ has backed immigration cuts, particularly for non-French speakers.
With files from Meagan Gillmore
