Quebec “deserves” to be “a country”, says new independent leader

“ A courageous struggle of the Francophones in America to remain faithful to their cultural differences will only make sense when these people get their country and the recognition that comes from it,” said Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon, before the militants of the Quebec Party (PQ), who celebrated the victory of independent formation in the provincial elections in Montreal.

“ We deserved it, we deserved it in the same way as all the other peoples who have their country and their democracy,” added the 49-year-old lawyer, nicknamed “PSPP”, the future prime minister of the province of nine million inhabitants. “It’s a matter of survival,” he added.

The FP, which has not ruled Quebec since 2014, has promised to organise a new referendum on independence, but has needed that the plebiscite would await the end of Donald Trump’s mandate in January 2029, so that the debate could be “serene”.

“A referendum is an opportunity to decide for ourselves. It's a gesture of democracy. It is up to no one more than us, as a people, to determine what our national future is”, continued “PSPP”, whose supporters sang slogans or independent songs.

With about 28% of the votes, according to almost definitive results, the FP will not have an absolute majority and has launched an appeal to other political formations to implement its programme and the promise of a referendum.

The return to power of the FP in one of Canada's richest and most populous provinces represents a great challenge for Mark Carney, at a time when no solution is foreseen for the trade conflict with Washington and when the head of the Canadian Government faces other separatist tendencies in Alberta.

This rich oil province of western Canada is expected to vote on 19 October to decide whether or not to organise a future referendum on independence.

“ Building a stronger Quebec is at the heart of our mission to build a stronger Canada,” Carney said, in a message posted in his social network account X, claiming to be “anxious to work” with the new leader of the province “to support the companies and workers of Quebec affected by US customs duties.”.

If this happens, the referendum promised by the FP will be the third organised in Quebec after the 1980s and 1995s. The latter was lost by a narrow margin by the field of “yes” to independence.

The issue of independence has always deeply divided Quebec between “sovereigners”, who want to separate themselves from Canada, and “federalists”, but the idea of a new referendum returns, for the first time in 30 years, to the centre of political debate.

In another matter of future discord with the Federal Government, “PSPP” also promised to “abolish the monarchy” in Quebec, i.e. to cut the funding of the British Crown representative in the province, whose role — namely to enact the Quebec laws — is, however, enshrined in the Canadian Constitution.

Canada is a member of the Commonwealth and its head of state is Charles III.

It is a “burden that costs money”, denounced the independent leader, who says he wants to use those funds to reduce the number of homeless people.