Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon speaking loudly and often after party win over Coalition Avenir Québec
Quebec separation is back among the living.
Years after many considered it dead, the prospect of removing Canada’s second-most populous province from the federation has re-entered the political debate. And though Quebecers aren’t exactly marching in the streets in its support as they once did, they are certainly taking another look at the Parti Québécois.
The PQ, formed in 1968 expressly to make a country out of the province, is by far the most popular political party in the land, with a bevy of polls suggesting it could form a majority government were an election held today.
In October, the party won a byelection in the Quebec City-area riding of Jean-Talon, long a stronghold of the governing Coalition Avenir Québec, or CAQ. More recently, the PQ released its “year one” budget, essentially an advertisement for the alleged economic benefits of a sovereign Quebec.
Quebec receives 14 billion dollars per year in transfer payments from the federal government.
What are transfer payments?
“Equalization” is the term used — basically it’s income redistribution from wealthier provinces to poorer ones, except Quebec for some reason get way more than they should based on their economic performance.
I guess that alone makes it pretty ridiculous for them to try to make an independent go of things…
Yup, which is why a lot of us up here see their threats of separation simply as a form of extortion. To be fair, it has been working great.