Montreal City Weblog

Kate 15:50 on 2026-02-24 Permalink Reply  

• DeWolf 16:12 on 2026-02-24 Permalink

  Funny you should see it like that since all the news is about PSPP backpedaling on their referendum promises. It wasn’t long ago that he was saying they’d hold a referendum within the first year of being elected, now he’s saying within the first mandate… if things settle down with Trump… and after a big public consultation about when to have a referendum.

  Support for independence is as low as ever and in the current context, I can see a lot of voters getting cold feet over the PQ. The Conservatives might actually eat up a lot of the support from soft nationalists.

  Still, anything can happen over the next eight months…

• Kate 16:16 on 2026-02-24 Permalink

  He does say he means to do it within his first mandate – he’s assuming the PQ will win, because everyone else thinks so too.

• Kevin 16:26 on 2026-02-24 Permalink

  Angus Reid last week: Separation is a hard no from 50% of Quebecers.
  https://angusreid.org/quebec-separatism-parti-quebecois-referendum-separation/

  Survey size 939 people, Feb. 2-6.

  We’re going back to “If you vote PQ, you’re voting for a referendum” as the main message from three parties this summer.

• Joey 18:00 on 2026-02-24 Permalink

  I think I saw a poll today that showed Carney’s approval rating in Quebec is 65%. With Trump’s ongoing descent into new kinds of insanity it’s absurd to think a majority of Quebecers would choose to separate but PSSP has painted himself into a corner…

• Ian 19:48 on 2026-02-24 Permalink

  Especially with the open overtures the MAGA assimilationsists are making towards Alberta. That might fly in Calgary but I’m fairly certain the idea of achieving independence only to be officially re-colonized by the US would give even the fiercest sovereigntist pause for thought.

• Kate 19:57 on 2026-02-24 Permalink

  Some may actually believe that they would get a fairer deal from the US than from evil Ottawa, which has been colonizing and patronizing them since 1867.

• Taylor C. Noakes 20:49 on 2026-02-24 Permalink

  I’d take that with a pound of salt

  He’ll campaign on it to secure the sovereginist vote, then in year 1 it’ll be “let’s get settled in first”, year 2 there’ll be ‘unforseen challenges but we’re still committed etc”, year 3 will be filled with distractions both positive and negative (“see how good we’re doing about X, be mindful about Y”), and then in year 4 “it’ll be irresponsible for us to do that now without the winning conditions, I care too much to put Quebec through that etc.”

  I interviewed Francine Pelletier recently… her feeling was that losing a third referendum would be exceptionally painful, potentially lead to the collapse of the PQ as a viable party. I don’t think PSPP will risk it

• mare 20:57 on 2026-02-24 Permalink

  They will hold a sondage about “if they should hold a referendum” and then say that, in light of the current situation the majority of Quebec people think it’s not a good idea to hold one. The same tactic as several parties did with abolishing the FPTP voting system, both on the federal and provincial level.
  Running on it and then backtracking, it works because people have a very short memory.

• bob 03:22 on 2026-02-25 Permalink

  I think @Taylor and @mare have got it, and should start a political consultancy.

• Uatu 11:44 on 2026-02-25 Permalink

  Can I just get a GP please?

• Kate 13:36 on 2026-02-26 Permalink

  When Quebec separates we’ll all have GPs, because so many Quebec doctors will return to live in our independent paradise.