The Bloc Québécois is taking challenge with Conservative Chief Pierre Poilievre’s declare that help for Quebec separatism was “worn out” underneath Stephen Harper’s authorities.
The Tory chief insists separatist sentiment in each Alberta and Quebec is being pushed by the Liberals and their insurance policies. On Monday, he advised reporters help for separation “was zero” when Harper was in energy between 2006 and 2015.
“Below Stephen Harper, the separatist motion was worn out. The Parti Québécois and the Bloc Québécois had been on their final leg,” he mentioned.
Bloc Québécois Home chief Christine Normandin identified that Quebec elected a minority Parti Québécois authorities in 2012.
“I could not agree much less with [Poilievre’s] assertion,” she mentioned in an interview.
The PQ misplaced energy to the provincial Liberals in 2014 after which pledged within the 2018 election marketing campaign to not maintain a referendum on sovereignty for not less than 4 years. The PQ suffered a historic defeat and misplaced official occasion standing when the Coalition Avenir Québec took energy in 2018.
The Bloc misplaced official occasion standing after the 2011 federal election, dropping 43 seats because the NDP swept by way of Quebec within the “orange wave.”
In 2006, the Bloc launched a movement within the Home of Commons calling on MPs to acknowledge Quebecers as a nation. Harper replied with a movement of his personal that acknowledged the “Québécois type a nation inside a united Canada.” The movement acquired overwhelming help from MPs of all events.
Regardless of the ups and downs of sovereigntist events, polls present that help for sovereignty amongst Quebecers has remained pretty secure.
Leger launched a ballot final month that tracks 15 years of help for Quebec sovereignty. Over that point, the proportion of people that mentioned they’d vote sure to separating from Canada hovered between 29% and 45%.
That 45% peak was reached the yr of the PQ win in 2012. The low was recorded in March of this yr.
Normandin mentioned the sovereignty motion in Quebec is secure as a result of it’s not “in response” to what’s occurring in Ottawa.
“It is primarily based on the truth that Quebec has a special language, a special tradition, the very fact it’s a nation,” she mentioned.
“And that won’t change, however what color the federal government in Ottawa is.”
There was discuss of rising help for separatism in Quebec over the past 18 months after the sovereigntist Parti Québécois surged within the polls because the voters turned in opposition to former premier François Legault and his Coalition Avenir Québec.
The PQ has pledged that if it wins the election in October, it can maintain a referendum on separation inside its mandate. And whereas Leger’s Might ballot suggests the occasion holds a slim two-point lead over the provincial Liberals, the ballot put help for secession at 35% in April and 32% in Might.
Separatist sentiment has been rising in Alberta, the place Premier Danielle Smith has scheduled a referendum in October that can ask whether or not Albertans need to maintain a “binding referendum” on separation from Canada or if they need the province to stay a part of the nation.
Poilievre mentioned that is a direct results of “divide-and-conquer, centralist Liberal authorities that seeks to regulate all the things in Ottawa.” He famous that each one three referendums to separate from Canada have occurred underneath federal Liberal governments.
Normandin mentioned she thinks Poilievre is making an attempt to dodge thorny questions on what would represent a “clear majority” in an Alberta separation referendum.
“Both he does not actually have a great understanding of Quebec, or he actually was making an attempt to alter the subject of the dialog with such a daring however false assertion,” she mentioned.
Prime Minister Mark Carney drew the ire of Quebec provincial politicians and the Bloc final week when, citing the Readability Act, he mentioned that any secession referendum would wish greater than 50%-plus-one help to be thought of legitimate.
That laws, which was handed within the aftermath of the 1995 Quebec referendum and the 1998 Supreme Court docket ruling on separation, offers the Home of Commons the ability to determine whether or not a proposed referendum query on separation is evident and whether or not a transparent majority voted in favour of it.
The Bloc mentioned Tuesday it will put ahead a invoice within the Home of Commons to repeal the Readability Act.
Reporters requested Poilievre repeatedly on Tuesday in regards to the Readability Act and the Bloc’s proposed invoice. He didn’t reply.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed June 2, 2026.