Kevin Paquette: The PQ wants a referendum? Quebec barely functions as a province

PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon greets supporters in the Maurice-Richard riding in Montreal, on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. Photo by Allen McInnis /Montreal Gazette

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Today, Quebecers will be called to the polls to elect their next government. If trends hold, the Parti Québécois should, by all indications, win this election, with some recent polls even placing it within reach of a majority. 

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This has been a rather strange election campaign. The Parti Québécois, which has been leading in the polls for nearly three years, has not faced the barrage of attacks one might have expected. Its proposal to hold a referendum on Quebec independence during a first term has failed to stir much passion, and the issue does not seem to have mobilized federalist voters as much as many observers might have expected. 

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The story of the campaign has been the Quebec electorate’s desire for change. Tired of the Coalition Avenir Québec’s broken promises, Quebecers were desperately looking for a credible alternative to Premier Christine Fréchette’s party. 

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It’s a distinction political observers need to understand. A victory on Monday, even a majority, should not be confused with strong support for the referendum process. Quebecers may be preparing to give PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon a mandate to govern, but that does not mean they are giving him a mandate for independence. 

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The modern Quebec voter is extremely cynical about politicians and about the government’s ability to deliver on what it promises. Before being convinced that Quebec is ready to take its destiny into its own hands, voters will want their government to prove that it can first get itself back in order. 

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There is nothing particularly encouraging about Quebec’s ability to govern itself when we look at the state of public services and the province’s chronic inability to deliver major projects, whether in infrastructure, technology or elsewhere. For all the talk about Quebec’s political future, the most immediate problem for most voters is that they have lost confidence in the government they already have. 

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The mandate given to the Parti Québécois on Monday will first and foremost be one to clean things up and restore confidence in Quebec’s ability to provide quality public services. It means that, before asking Quebecers to believe that their government can take on the responsibilities of an independent country, the PQ will have to show that it can properly handle the responsibilities Quebec already has. 

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That is the main priority the PQ will have to tackle if it wins government. And that is ultimately what voters will judge it on. 

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Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s path to the premier’s office has not been without setbacks. We have to remember that when he took over the PQ leadership in 2020, people were already writing his party’s obituary, expecting it to be nearly wiped off the electoral map in 2022. 

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But against all odds, PSPP held the fort. He stood his ground and owned his ideas, even the most unpopular ones, such as holding a referendum during a first term. That is a large part of what appealed to many voters disappointed with the CAQ. These are voters who had been promised the world and who felt the government never kept its commitments.