No referendum with Trump around, says PQ ahead of October election
The Parti Québécois will not hold a referendum as long as U.S. President Donald Trump remains in power, party Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon announced Tuesday morning.
Party leader says he wants to avoid having the issue 'hijacked by the ups and downs of American politics'
CBC News
·
Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
The Parti Québécois will not hold a referendum as long as U.S. President Donald Trump remains in power, party Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon announced Tuesday morning.
In a post on X, he said he wants to avoid having the issue "hijacked by the ups and downs of American politics."
"An issue as crucial as the political future of Quebec requires conditions that allow for an informed and calm debate," St-Pierre Plamondon wrote.
In his statement, he also noted that the next government "called upon to clean up the mess left by the CAQ will have more than enough challenges and tasks to tackle right from the start of its term."
"So I decided to completely defuse the argument that this would be the worst time to think about our future because of Trump, by ruling out the possibility of holding a referendum by the end of his second term," St-Pierre Plamondon explained in his post.
This means that a Parti Québécois government would not hold a referendum before Jan. 20, 2029 — the end of Trump's term.
The PQ leader stated, however, that if elected, he would consult Quebecers on the issue of independence within his first term.
St-Pierre Plamondon had previously supported a referendum during Trump's term.
PQ leader seeks to appeal to anglophones
The announcement comes as political parties across the province prepare for the official launch of the Quebec general election campaign next week. Voters are scheduled to head to the polls on Oct. 5.
The separatist leader has promised to hold a referendum in his first mandate, and while anglophone voters have largely supported Liberals in the past, St-Pierre Plamondon has been making an appeal to them in recent weeks.
In an open letter published in the National Post last week, St-Pierre Plamondon said he has heard from anglophones who "share the same realities and concerns" as francophones in the province.
As examples, he points to issues related to the cost of living and purchasing a home as well as struggles in the education and health-care systems to provide sufficient services.
“We are all in the same boat,” he wrote. “We live under the same institutions. We pay the same taxes. We deserve the same high-quality public services and individual financial well-being."
In a recent poll published by Angus Reid and surveying just over 900 people, only 15 per cent of respondents said they would "definitely vote to leave" if a referendum were held today.
An additional 11 per cent responded they would "lean toward voting to leave."
Regardless, the PQ is ahead in the polls.
According to political aggregator 338Canada, the Parti Québécois holds a lead in overall voting intentions, placing them ahead of the Quebec Liberal Party and the governing Coalition Avenir Québec.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.