PB leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (C) waves to supporters. (AP Photo)
Separatists won provincial elections in Quebec on Oct. 5, 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 (PQ) fell short of a majority government in Canada’s French-speaking province, 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 Canada’s oil-producing province of Alberta, an economic powerhouse, 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.”
Carney congratulated PSPP, saying that “building a stronger Quebec is core to our mission of building a stronger Canada.”
