Quebec elects the separatists on 28 percent of the vote
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon's Parti Québécois has won Quebec's election after more than a decade in opposition, according to media projections. A projected minority government now has to turn its promise of an independence vote after January 2029 into a workable plan.
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by Sami Haddad
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Quebec's separatists have won back power after more than a decade in opposition, promising a third referendum on leaving Canada and handing Prime Minister Mark Carney a national-unity test weeks before an independence-related vote in Alberta. The Parti Québécois won the most seats in the October 5, 2026 election, according to media reports, putting leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon on course to become premier.
CTV News projects a minority government. With the count incomplete, the National Post reported that the PQ was a few seats short of the 64 needed for a majority in the 127-seat National Assembly, on about 28 percent of the popular vote. That gives the party a path to government, but leaves its referendum project dependent on cooperation from other parties.
St-Pierre Plamondon promised during the campaign to hold an independence referendum in his first term. On August 18, he added a condition: the vote would take place only after US President Donald Trump leaves office in January 2029. Quebec rejected secession in 1980 and 1995, and has not held another independence vote in the three decades since.
The election changes who governs Quebec. It does not establish that most Quebecers want to leave Canada. Daniel Beland, a political science professor at McGill University, told the Associated Press that support for independence remains at about 30 percent, low by historical standards. He said the PQ victory reflects a divided multiparty system rather than a surge in separatist sentiment.
That is the central fact of the new government's position: the PQ has recovered power faster than the independence cause has recovered support. Its leader now has to bridge that gap while running a province.
