To \u00c9ric Cyr, this feels like a last kick at the can. <\/p>\n
More than 30 years after he voted for Quebec\u2019s separation from Canada, a political party on the cusp of returning to power is at last promising a third referendum on independence. <\/p>\n
Mr. Cyr, 57, still remembers being called a \u201cfrog\u201d when he lived in Labrador City, N.L., as a child. \u201cIt\u2019s like I was an immigrant in my own country,\u201d he said. Today, he lives a short drive away in the northern mining town of Fermont, Que., in a provincial riding where a majority voted to leave the first two times Quebec held referendums on separation, in 1980 and 1995. <\/p>\n
Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Quebec’s second referendum in 1995 was a setback for the sovereignty campaign, then championed by Lucien Bouchard of the Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois.<\/p>\n The way forward seems obvious to him. Any true sovereigntist must vote for the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois in the coming provincial election, which hasn\u2019t yet been called but must be held by Oct. 5 at the latest. \u201cThere won\u2019t be another opportunity,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n But nearly 1,000 kilometres away, outside a caf\u00e9 in Montreal, two twentysomethings are not quite on board. Born after 1995, they\u2019re part of a new generation of sovereigntists who do not all share Mr. Cyr\u2019s sense of urgency. Instead, they take a joyful approach toward independence, immersed in a movement heavily influenced by memes and online culture. <\/p>\n These two young voters are not enamoured of the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois or its leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who has pledged to hold a referendum within a first mandate if his party wins the election. For them, the ends don\u2019t justify the means. \u201cI\u2019m almost thinking of spoiling my ballot in the next election,\u201d said Aymeric Lalonde, 20. <\/p>\n \u201cI would really have a hard time voting for PSPP,\u201d added Delphine Marchand-Roy, 25, referring to the PQ Leader by a common shorthand. <\/p>\n \u2018Welcome to the movement,\u2019 reads the sign behind Aymeric Lalonde at Club Pays, a pro-independence caf\u00e9 in Montreal. It\u2019s a venture from OUI Qu\u00e9bec, a group trying to build youth support for sovereignty.<\/p>\n For the most part, it used to be that if you were a sovereigntist in Quebec, you voted PQ. If you weren\u2019t, you voted Liberal. But the province\u2019s political landscape has fractured in recent years, with polling showing sovereigntist votes now split between four parties \u2013 all likely to win seats in October \u2013 despite the fact that only two are in favour of separation. <\/p>\n Support for independence, currently hovering around 30 per cent, is low enough to make the prospect of Quebec secession seem remote, and it has taken a hit since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. <\/p>\n Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, who is hoping to turn his current lead in the polls into a majority government, faces no small challenge as he looks to unite a disparate group of young idealists and battle-scarred warriors spanning several generations. They all want to see an independent Quebec. But they don\u2019t all agree on what it should look like. <\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n The PQ\u2019s Paul St-Pierre Plamondon leads the fourth-place party in the Quebec City legislature, something he hopes to change.Jacques Boissinot\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n In Fermont, it\u2019s hard for Mr. Cyr to accept the idea of a sovereigntist not voting PQ. He fears that if Quebec remains in Canada, the French language will \u201ceventually become a relic.\u201d<\/p>\n Quebec\u2019s changing demographics mean it\u2019s now or never, Mr. Cyr said. He believes immigrants to the province see themselves as primarily Canadian and are unlikely to vote for independence. \u201cIt\u2019s as if it dilutes the francophone pool,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m convinced this is the last chance. Honestly, if they really claim to be sovereigntists, there\u2019s no other option but to vote for the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois.\u201d <\/p>\n Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon has promised to slash immigration, claiming the cuts are necessary to protect the French language. But it\u2019s that kind of position that has alienated voters like Ms. Marchand-Roy, who accused him of adopting \u201can old narrative.\u201d She said she was unsure if she would vote \u201cyes\u201d in a referendum organized by the PQ. <\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n With the St-Jean Baptiste Day festivities behind them, and an election ahead, separatist parties have kept up their messages about the status of French in Quebec.Graham Hughes\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n Recent polling shows the level of support for sovereignty is broadly similar across age groups. That\u2019s a change from decades past, when independence campaigns were \u201cdriven by younger generations,\u201d said S\u00e9bastien Dallaire, chief insights officer at polling firm Leger. \u201cHow do you put forth a vision that really brings together young and old?\u201d<\/p>\n The politics of sovereignty have also grown more complicated in other ways. Leger\u2019s polling shows sovereigntist votes divided between the PQ and the left-leaning Qu\u00e9bec Solidaire, which support independence, as well as the governing Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec and the Conservative Party of Quebec, which don\u2019t. Moreover, a sizable minority of PQ supporters say they would vote \u201cno\u201d in a referendum. <\/p>\n \u201cThe party landscape is really muddied when it comes to support for sovereignty right now,\u201d said Mr. Dallaire. <\/p>\n Some of the mementoes around Club Pays \u2013 an FLQ manifesto and referendum-themed shirts \u2013 are from an era of the sovereignty movement that twentysomethings are too young to have experienced firsthand.<\/p>\n Ms. Marchand-Roy and Mr. Lalonde, both university students, were born decades after the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s that saw francophones become \u201cma\u00eetres chez eux\u201d by claiming leadership positions in their own province, and that fostered the rise of Quebec nationalism. They never personally experienced the heartbreak many sovereigntists felt after the two failed referendums. <\/p>\n Their version of sovereignty thrives on Instagram and TikTok, where young people share memes celebrating Quebec culture, and it has spilled over into the real world. <\/p>\n In June, the non-partisan sovereigntist group OUI Qu\u00e9bec drew 12,000 people to a party at a Montreal park for St-Jean Baptiste Day. <\/p>\n The two students spoke with The Globe and Mail recently at a new, explicitly sovereigntist caf\u00e9 in La Petite-Patrie, a diverse neighbourhood of Montreal. Called Club Pays, the spot was opened earlier this year by OUI Qu\u00e9bec, which is working to drum up support for independence, especially among young people. <\/p>\n Inside, a menu offers \u201cQu\u00e9b\u00e9canos\u201d \u2013 in place of Americano coffees \u2013 and \u201cbiscOUIts.\u201d A bookshelf features the writings of former PQ premiers Ren\u00e9 L\u00e9vesque and Jacques Parizeau, who helmed the first two referendum campaigns. \u201cBienvenue dans le Mouvement!\u201d shout neon letters on the wall, welcoming new recruits. <\/p>\n The lighthearted vibe seems a far cry from the struggle for equality that drew their predecessors to the cause. \u201cI think it\u2019s a completely different movement, and we\u2019re really more focused on hope,\u201d said Mr. Lalonde, the youth co-ordinator for OUI Qu\u00e9bec. <\/p>\n Swapping \u2018Quebecanos\u2019 for Americanos and \u2018Montreal fogs\u2019 for London fogs, Club Pays caters to a young crowd in La Petite-Patrie. Buttons at the counter read \u2018Quebec, country of possibilities.\u2019<\/p>\n Sonia Tr\u00e9panier, born in 1944 in a working-class neighbourhood of Montreal, remembers what it was like to be an outsider in her own home. Working for Bell Canada in her early 20s, she learned quickly that her mother tongue was not welcome. \u201cIf you don\u2019t speak English, you\u2019re out,\u201d she recalled being told. <\/p>\n When the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois became a major political force under the leadership of Mr. L\u00e9vesque, elected premier in 1976, it \u201clet us dream,\u201d said Ms. Tr\u00e9panier, 81. <\/p>\n \u201cI think it gave Quebec francophones a sense of worth to see that they could have and hope for everything that our anglophone colleagues had and hoped for.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Tr\u00e9panier voted for independence in 1980 and 1995, for \u201ca country where we would feel respected.\u201d She believes sovereigntists will keep fighting for independence, even if a third referendum fails. \u201cIf this doesn\u2019t work, there will be another one,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Sonia Trepanier is a retired math teacher who cast a ballot for ‘yes’ in 1980 and 1995.<\/p>\n But others who recall the trauma of defeat are less sanguine. \u201cIf we say \u2018no\u2019 to ourselves once again, we won\u2019t be able to count on Ottawa to protect our language and culture,\u201d said 67-year-old Guy Couillard in an e-mail exchange. \u201cI believe that we won\u2019t see conditions like these again in 10, 20, or 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Couillard, who lives on Montreal\u2019s suburban South Shore, said the failed referendums and constitutional negotiations of the 1980s and 1990s helped turn him into a \u201cfervent sovereigntist.\u201d <\/p>\n He bristled at the memory of receiving a phone call during the 1995 referendum campaign from an unknown Albertan who tried to convince him \u2013 in English \u2013 to vote to remain in Canada. <\/p>\n \u201cI was so offended that he would presume to tell me how I should vote that it convinced me even more strongly to vote \u2018yes,\u2019 \u201d he said. <\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Guy Couillard is a retired architect and ‘fervent sovereigntist.’<\/p>\n In June, the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois published its Livre bleu, a 524-page tome outlining the party\u2019s vision for secession. The plan includes promises that an independent Quebec would have its own army and its own currency. <\/p>\n Ms. Tr\u00e9panier said she was reassured to know the PQ has such a detailed plan for independence. But Mr. Lalonde, the youth co-ordinator, remains unconvinced, saying he wishes a referendum could be led by civil society rather than the government. \u201cI\u2019m really having a hard time seeing a coherent vision for society in what\u2019s being proposed,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Behind the counter at Club Pays, Alirio Carri\u00e7o made drinks for the handful of afternoon patrons. After moving to Quebec from Brazil four years ago, he found a welcoming community among these young sovereigntists, who he said are passionate about Quebec music, theatre and literature. <\/p>\n Mr. Carri\u00e7o, 33, said he agrees that Quebec is a culture under threat, but he added that Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon\u2019s position on immigration strikes him as \u201ca little harsh.\u201d He said the independence project often isn\u2019t well-explained to newcomers. \u201cWe want people from other places to make the choice and embrace the culture,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Alirio Carri\u00e7o, at right with Mr. Lalonde, found a community with sovereigntists after moving here from Brazil.<\/p>\n Ms. Tr\u00e9panier, who has also been volunteering with OUI Qu\u00e9bec, said she knows Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon\u2019s rhetoric doesn\u2019t appeal to everyone. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t have the temperament to be endearing the way Ren\u00e9 L\u00e9vesque was.\u201d <\/p>\n Still, she\u2019s planning to visit retirement homes this fall to convince other seniors to set aside their fears and rally for the movement once more. In October, she will vote PQ. <\/p>\n \u201cJust because you\u2019re old doesn\u2019t mean you have no more life, no more dreams,\u201d she said. \u201cI want a country before I go.\u201d<\/p>\n Federalism\u2019s future: More from The Globe and MailThe Decibel podcast<\/p>\n Alberta separatists claim that leaving Canada will make them better off. Will it really? Oliver Moore from The Globe\u2019s editorial board spoke with The Decibel<\/a> about the legal myths and realities around the independence movement. Subscribe for more episodes.<\/a><\/p>\n Commentary<\/p>\n Konrad Yakabuski: PQ\u2019s new blueprint for sovereignty sets the stage for a high-stakes election campaign<\/a><\/p>\n