Chris Selley: The Parti Québécois’ referendum tilt-a-whirl

On Wednesday, the Parti Québécois unveiled its slogan for the upcoming provincial election: “Le choix de la confiance,” meaning “the choice of trust” or “confidence” in government. “We will not campaign on the pessimistic themes of uncertainty and fear, but based on policy proposals and a solid team,” leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon told reporters with a straight face.

Leave aside for the moment that the PQ’s concept of Quebec nationalism is inherently pessimistic, marinated in mistrust and grievance. The PQ’s 524-page doorstopper of a manifesto points to the following themes in its table of contents: “the cement of difference: language”; “the French language has no future in Canada”; “the Anselem affair: religion placed on a pedestal of individual rights” (this refers to a landmark Supreme Court case involving Orthodox Jewish Montrealers).

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The timing of the slogan unveiling was particularly amusing, coming as it did mere hours after St-Pierre Plamondon made official something he has mused about publicly for months: While remaining committed to holding a third sovereignty referendum in the PQ’s first mandate, he announced the campaign would not commence with Donald Trump still occupying the White House.

“Until then, our priority remains clear: Govern Quebec with consistency and restore the confidence of Quebecers,” he said.

In a not universally well-received open letter to Quebec anglophones , published recently in National Post, St-Pierre Plamondon ventured the following: “The real ballot question this upcoming October is who can form a good government for Quebec: a competent government, an honest government, a government prepared to tell the truth about the challenges we face and then hit the ground running to solve them.”

Oh? Because these are the first words in the party manifesto, attributed to St-Pierre Plamondon specifically: “Quebecers have been questioning their political and constitutional future for decades. Feeling constrained within a Canadian federation that offers them neither linguistic nor cultural autonomy, they are searching for a solution that will truly allow them to ensure the preservation of their unique identity in America.”

The contradictions pile up like rush hour traffic on the Champlain Bridge. Quebec must be independent to protect its interests of all kinds … except if a malign influence occupies the White House? At the risk of wanton speculation, I suspect the United States is going to be a quite important market for an independent Quebec. Trump is a uniquely chaotic president — I suspect historians in 1,000 years will still say he was uniquely chaotic — but he didn’t invent protectionism or tariffs. Quebecers only drink so much bourbon. In 2024, according to the provincial liquor concern’s annual report , just 6.8 per cent of the wine sold on its shelves was American, with the vast majority from France, Italy and Spain. They export a lot of electricity to New York and New England … but they also import quite a bit. It’s an interconnected system.