(note for this reply: PQ is the Parti Québécois, the pro-independence party i was talking about)
What is the thinking behind that?
i think it’s mostly because support for independence (or at least, support for a referendum in an eventual PQ government’s first term as they promised) has fallen a lot since trump started to threaten canada’s sovereignty.
many quebeckers, even sovereignists, have little faith that an independent quebec (especially as a newborn country) could effectively protect itself from trump’s usa without the support of the rest of canada. the thought right now is that it would be one of the worst times to declare independence; we’d live with 2 enemy nations at our borders instead of just one.
the PQ obviously do not want their referendum to fail, they believe in their stuff, so they wait for the situation to become more favorable.
How can this be, if the pro-independence party is leading the polls?
the PQ have more policies than just a referendum for independence, and they’re the only provincial party to not be mired in scandal and/or too radical for the Median Voter™. a lot of non-sovereignists voting for them are thinking along the lines of “i can vote for them and then when the referendum comes, vote No”
unasked for personal rant
i, personally, fucking hate them. on top of being another bourgeois party like all others, the PQ has lost almost all of its social-democratic policies under its most recent leaders, replaced by the same “anti-woke” culture war garbage that conservative parties elsewhere have. they’re anti-trans, anti-immigration, anti-Islam, anti-HSR (for some fucking reason but i guess it comes free with being an anti-woke grifter)…
essentially, the same policies as the current ruling party (the CAQ), but without all the reputation of being lapdogs for the private sector that the CAQ has (tho i don’t trust them one bit on that front either). the CAQ’s policies have done a ton of harm to the province, and yet people are asking for more! out of our 5 parties basically 4 of them are the same. and the one that isn’t, our pathetic excuse of a leftist party, is trailing in the polls.
quebec has negative class consciousness it’s ridiculous. we don’t deserve sovereignty, even without getting into the (very true) fact that quebec is a colonial state built on stolen Indigenous land.
i meant high-speed rail. there’s a project to build a high-speed rail line between toronto and quebec city, and the PQ have vowed to fight against it for some reason? despite it being severely needed (literally half of canada lives in this line and the train service currently is pitiful)
the official reasoning is that it’s too expensive… but most of the funding comes from the federal govt anyways?
it’s clearly not as bad as all the bigotry, but it still sends a clear signal that the party is aligning itself on conservative values and auto industry interests, despite its socdem branding.
(note for this reply: PQ is the Parti Québécois, the pro-independence party i was talking about)
i think it’s mostly because support for independence (or at least, support for a referendum in an eventual PQ government’s first term as they promised) has fallen a lot since trump started to threaten canada’s sovereignty.
many quebeckers, even sovereignists, have little faith that an independent quebec (especially as a newborn country) could effectively protect itself from trump’s usa without the support of the rest of canada. the thought right now is that it would be one of the worst times to declare independence; we’d live with 2 enemy nations at our borders instead of just one.
the PQ obviously do not want their referendum to fail, they believe in their stuff, so they wait for the situation to become more favorable.
the PQ have more policies than just a referendum for independence, and they’re the only provincial party to not be mired in scandal and/or too radical for the Median Voter™. a lot of non-sovereignists voting for them are thinking along the lines of “i can vote for them and then when the referendum comes, vote No”
unasked for personal rant
i, personally, fucking hate them. on top of being another bourgeois party like all others, the PQ has lost almost all of its social-democratic policies under its most recent leaders, replaced by the same “anti-woke” culture war garbage that conservative parties elsewhere have. they’re anti-trans, anti-immigration, anti-Islam, anti-HSR (for some fucking reason but i guess it comes free with being an anti-woke grifter)…
essentially, the same policies as the current ruling party (the CAQ), but without all the reputation of being lapdogs for the private sector that the CAQ has (tho i don’t trust them one bit on that front either). the CAQ’s policies have done a ton of harm to the province, and yet people are asking for more! out of our 5 parties basically 4 of them are the same. and the one that isn’t, our pathetic excuse of a leftist party, is trailing in the polls.
quebec has negative class consciousness it’s ridiculous. we don’t deserve sovereignty, even without getting into the (very true) fact that quebec is a colonial state built on stolen Indigenous land.
Thank you for the rant, all the context is very informative!
Could you tell me what anti-HSR means in this context? I couldn’t figure it out :p
yea sorry, i should’ve explained 😅
i meant high-speed rail. there’s a project to build a high-speed rail line between toronto and quebec city, and the PQ have vowed to fight against it for some reason? despite it being severely needed (literally half of canada lives in this line and the train service currently is pitiful)
the official reasoning is that it’s too expensive… but most of the funding comes from the federal govt anyways?
it’s clearly not as bad as all the bigotry, but it still sends a clear signal that the party is aligning itself on conservative values and auto industry interests, despite its socdem branding.