{"id":428818,"date":"2026-01-23T21:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T21:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/428818\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T21:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T21:07:08","slug":"parti-quebecois-stays-course-on-referendum-despite-carneys-call-for-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/428818\/","title":{"rendered":"Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois stays course on referendum despite Carney\u2019s call for unity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon speaks at a press conference on Nov. 25, 2025. Members of the PQ will gather this weekend at a convention in St-Hyacinthe, Que.Jacques Boissinot\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

On the heels of Prime Minister Mark Carney<\/a>\u2019s call for unity in Quebec City<\/a> on Thursday, the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois is laying out a roadmap ahead of the coming provincial election with a promise of a referendum at its heart. <\/p>\n

Members of the sovereigntist party will gather this weekend at a convention in St-Hyacinthe, a small city east of Montreal, to vote on the party\u2019s \u201cnational project\u201d \u2013 a suite of policies that opens with an \u201cunambiguous\u201d promise to hold a third referendum on independence. <\/p>\n

On Friday, Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is also expected to unveil the latest instalment of his vision for a sovereign Quebec, this one related to Quebec citizenship. He has previously revealed plans for an independent Quebec to have its own currency. <\/p>\n

The convention is taking place as a growing Alberta independence movement presents another challenge to Canadian unity, and amid threats from the United States. On Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent commented on the possibility of a referendum in Alberta, saying the province should be allowed to join the United States. <\/p>\n

Legault\u2019s \u2018third way\u2019 Quebec nationalism down but not out after resignation<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberta group gets green light to collect separation signatures<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon has never wavered from his pledge to hold a referendum by 2030, despite low support for independence in the province and in an uncertain geopolitical context. Now, with his party\u2019s two main rivals in search of new leaders, he is presenting the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois as a government-in-waiting. <\/p>\n

The PQ Leader took aim at Mr. Carney on Thursday, after the Prime Minister invoked the Battle of the Plains of Abraham as the moment when Canadians began to choose \u201cbuilding together over pulling apart.\u201d The 1759 battle at Quebec City saw British forces defeat French troops, leading to the surrender of Quebec to the British. <\/p>\n

In a social-media post, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon accused Mr. Carney of \u201cfalsifying our history.\u201d He promised to respond to Mr. Carney\u2019s speech \u201cpoint by point\u201d on Sunday during the convention. <\/p>\n

Party members will vote this weekend on the \u201cnational project,\u201d a 42-page document that sets out the priorities of a PQ government. It says that Quebec\u2019s situation within Canada has deteriorated since the previous referendum, held in 1995. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe country in which the people of Quebec can exist fully will be their own,\u201d it says. <\/p>\n

Legault\u2019s legacy leaves many religious, linguistic minorities feeling less welcome in Quebec<\/a><\/p>\n

The document\u2019s policies aim to boost Quebec\u2019s autonomy even before a vote on independence. The party is proposing to \u201creindustrialize\u201d the economy by identifying imports that could be manufactured in Quebec, and to adopt a \u201cbuy Quebec\u201d policy. <\/p>\n

The PQ has promised to slash immigration<\/a>, including by placing a moratorium on new economic immigrants. Instead, the party is proposing to select new permanent residents from among the temporary foreign workers and international students already in the province. <\/p>\n

The document also says the party would push for automation in sectors of the economy that experience labour shortages. <\/p>\n

Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault announced his resignation last week<\/a>, kicking off a leadership race for the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec. The Quebec Liberals are also in search of a new leader after former federal cabinet minister Pablo Rodriguez stepped down from the post <\/a>in December amid a campaign-financing scandal. <\/p>\n

The PQ has been leading in the polls for more than two years, despite having won just three seats in the past election, in 2022. It has since won three by-elections. Earlier this week, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon announced the party\u2019s first candidate for this year\u2019s election, scheduled for October. <\/p>\n

With reports from The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon speaks at a press conference on Nov.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-428818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-science","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}