The president of the United States, Donald Trump, tariff threats and Cava in Canadian sovereignty They are forcing Canadian politicians of all stripes to fitAnd in Quebec, the opposition Parti Québécois faces a particularly difficult challenge.
The leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has put the front and the center of the independence of Quebec, promising a referendum on sovereignty Within a first pq mandate.
That has been mainly a successful message That has helped revitalize the party.
But Trump has changed the game.
Throughout the country – Even in Quebecwhere people generally identify less with Canada: calls to the Canadian unit against Trump’s threats are emerging.
“People ask if it is a good time for Quebec to even think about being a country, in a situation that even a G7 country like Canada seems too small to sit next to Donald Trump,” Emilie Nicolas, columnist of I devote himHe said to CBC in an interview.
Sébastien Dallaire, executive vice president of the voting firm Léger Marketing, told CBC that he has seen a real change in recent weeks, directly related to what he calls “Trump’s eclipse.”
“Support for sovereignty has reduced to its lowest level that we have measured in many, many years,” Dallaire told CBC.
The tariff threats of the president of the United States and the constant conversation of annexing to Canada can present a political challenge for parti of experts in the leader of Pari Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Planpon.
The PQ remains the first in the voting intentions in Quebec, but has also seen a slight decrease in popularity since Trump was chosen.
“It is a little more difficult at this time for the PQ as part whose main platform is about pressing for the independence of Quebec and pointing out why Ottawa raises a problem,” said Dallaire.
“The traditional levers that the PQ can use to try to win are much more difficult to use,” he said.
PQ continues the course
The PQ response to the tariff crisis has not been pivotar, but to double the independence of Quebec, saying that it is the best way for the province to go to climatic threats from the south of the border.
“One thing is to say that Canada must be united, but if not, and other provinces are working for their business, regardless of Quebec business, I mean, that is reality,” said St-Pierre Plamondon last week at the launch of the choice campaign of the party in the driving of the Montreal area of Terrebonne.
“I’ve been saying from the beginning, we should have a strong Quebec team to analyze our interests,” he said.
The party expanded on this issue in a video Published in the social media site X on Monday, saying that the Canadian unit was “a myth.”
“Being part of Canada does not protect Quebec, weakens it,” says the video.
The video says that the Prime Minister of Ontario, Doug Ford, has used the tariff crisis to launch an election, that Alberta Prime Minister Danielle Smith is protecting the oil interests of his province, and that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is “overwhelmed” by the situation.
“An independent Quebec would have the advantage of having a single speech consistent with its interests, of having a diplomacy that works only for quebecers and a well protected border,” the video continues.
Going against the grain
Analysts say it is a curious political strategy for St-Pierre Plamondon.
“It is not time to present that message, and at any time that you can present that message, it will wade in a difficult political field,” Nicolas said.
Dallaire agrees.
“Trying too much to blame current governments in their place because of what is happening, it doesn’t look too well when voters at this time just want unity,” he said.
“They want to see governments working together hand in hand to defend Quebeños, to defend Canadians.”
But PQ supporters say that St-Pierre Pilondon’s strategy makes sense.
“This is one of the registered trademarks of Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, to follow what he says. Do not wait for a bit about what he is saying about sovereignty,” said Jocelyn Caron, former president and candidate of the PQ party. CBC in an interview.
“It is normal to have a reaction of a little fear when you have someone like Donald Trump who is doing all kinds of threats against your country,” Caron said. “But in the long term, I don’t think I have any impact on the sovereign movement,” he said.
Caron said an independent Quebec in the Trump era would have good days and bad days, just like any other country.
“Our position is that we would have more freedom and good morning than in the federal regime,” he said.
He even thinks that Canada could be in a better negotiation position with the United States in commerce if Quebec was a separate country.
“We would be like two countries in front of one, Canada and Quebec in front of the United States. And I think we would be stronger to have two voices against one,” he said.
Caron also believes that Trump’s threats to Canadian sovereignty could help people from all over the country to better understand how Quebecers who want to feel regularly their own nation.
“I think this little crisis normalizes the speech on independence,” he said.
Aligned with the ‘War of War on Trump’s Awakening’
The PQ also faces another challenge related to Trump.
While the party usually leans to the left and promotes social democratic values, St-Pierre Plamondon has been very critical of the so-called ‘Wake’ movement, which places it in the same ideological stadium as Trump.
At a press conference last November, St-Pierre Plamondon criticized the excesses of what he calls “wakism.”
“Wokeism, strictly speaking, is an antidemocratic movement that rejects dialogue and uses intimidation and misinformation to impose its agenda,” said St-Pierre Planonon at that time.
I was talking about statements made by the solid of Québec MNA Haroun Bouazzi, who suggested that the legislators of the National Assembly rush to blame racialized “Another” that is “dangerous or lower.”
But St-Pierre Plamondon suggested that the Wake movement was larger than Québec Solideire, and it was a small minority of people who impose radical views through intimidation and “polluting society.”
“People are tired of that, first of all,” he said.
At that time, many people in Quebec could have agreed with Plamondon. But his statements may have fallen out now, with his parallel a Trump’s Ongoing “War against the Alarbol“
St-Pierre Plamondon also recently suggested concerns about Fentanyl and illegal immigrants who cross the border from Canada to the United States are Well founded.
The PQ also lifted his eyebrows for refraining from voting on a motion in the National Assembly that promotes the rights LGBTQ2S+.
The voters grated in almost anything Trump supports
Nicolas says that aligning ideologically with Trump in any subject is a difficult position to be now for Canadian politicians.
“It will be difficult for political persons in Canada of all stripes to present ideas associated with things that Donald Trump agrees,” Nicolas said.
“There is a lot of promotion of a positional identity creation that we are happening, that if Donald Trump thinks that something is a good idea, maybe it is not what we want to do ourselves,” he said.
Dallaire shares the same view.
“Now it is a bit more complicated to play the cultural war in the same way that was played before, because some concepts or words can become a little more toxic due to tension in the United States,” he said.
“The key problems that have been very popular and useful for many parties related to identity policy have lost their advantage. They are not very important for voters at this time,” he said.
Caron said St-Pierre’s criticism of Wokeism is much more nuanced, reflective and moderate than Trump’s.
He said that St-Pierre Plamondon is more in line with other left-wing politicians who sometimes criticized the ideology of awakening and canceling culture, such as Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders.
“Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon says that it is not good
“There It will never be an argument on the protection of recoil for minorities as seen in the United States, “Caron said.
Pivot or patience?
Dallaire said that the PQ can be against the predominant opinion on some issues at the moment, but that there is still more than a year and a half before the next provincial elections.
He said that the best strategy of the party could be to wait.
“Finding the correct message is very difficult. So a little patience, seeing what will happen in the coming weeks is probably the best way to do it,” he said.
Nicolas is not so safe.
“ST-PIERRE PLAMONDON has time to pivot and change his message if that is something that interests him to do,” he said.
“The provincial election is far away. There are many things that can happen until then. But all we know will last four years is the presidency of Donald Trump,” he said.
