Party Quebecois Takes Power, Sovereignists at the Helm

Fred Rose, "Trudeau, Tories dismayed by PQ victory," Montreal Gazette, November 16, 1976, https://www.proquest.com/hnpmontrealgazette/docview/2199013349/AFA85A78232B4617PQ/5?accountid=14474&sourcetype=Newspapers

In the 1976 election, the liberal majority government led by Robert Bourassa was toppled by Rene Levesque’s Parti Quebecois. The Parti Quebecois were a party that championed the will of the francophone population that agreed that they were being oppressed, but did not agree with the FLQ’s approach to create change. They believed in a sovereign Quebec and could be considered by some to be a more peaceful attempt at secession from confederation than the FLQ’s. They brought about monumental changes to Quebec with the implementation of Bill 101, a bill that rendered French Quebec’s sole official language. The Parti Quebecois also brought about the 1980 referendum which would have the province secede from Canada while maintaining a cooperative association with the rest of Canada, akin to the cooperation seen in the European Union. It was rather soundly defeated with a %60 vote share[1] but it did mark yet another attempt from the province to try to force their way out of Confederation. The second attempt in 1995 also failed, but this time by a far smaller margin of %50.58 to %49.42[2], making it safe to say that separatism is far from a dead movement in Quebec.

[1] R. Hudon, "Quebec Referendum (1980)" The Canadian Encyclopedia, August 27, 2013, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/quebec-referendum-1980

[2] Gerard L. Gall, "Quebec Referendum (1995)" The Canadian Encyclopedia, August 21, 2013, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/quebec-referendum-1995