Canada

Separatist Parti Québécois Wins Quebec Election

Is the Parti Québécois win a mandate for renewal and change or a minority push toward a referendum nobody wants?

Published 3 days ago

Separatist Parti Québécois Wins Quebec Election

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Above: Paul St-Pierre Plamondon celebrates his victory to become the next premier of Quebec, in Montreal, on Oct. 5. Image credit: Andrej Ivanov/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Establishment-critical narrative

Hope beat fear in Quebec, and a party written off as dead now carries the mandate for change. Eight years of stale government left people hungry for something better, and a movement rebuilt from almost nothing answered that call with grit and optimism. A government that grafts for every Quebecer, with sovereigntists holding the clear majority of seats, is a renewal worth celebrating.

LaPresse

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon on X

Pro-establishment narrative

A party that won barely more than a quarter of the vote has no business dragging an entire province into a divisive constitutional fight nobody asked for. Most Quebecers backed parties that reject another separation vote, and that message could not be clearer. Health care, schools and the economy deserve the attention — not years of uncertainty and a costly exercise in national division.

Jason Kenney on X Montreal Gazette