In modern Quebec, Maurice Duplessis knew how to use nationalism to promote his autonomist policies with the central government. However, this facade of nationalism quickly demonstrated its limits and its impotence. Others have also made nationalist chords vibrate more seriously in a Canadian setting with slogans, such as Jean Lesage’s “Maîtres chez nous” or Daniel Johnson’s “Égalité ou dépendante”. It is in this context that the idea of a sovereign Quebec gradually took over, leading the PQ to power in 1976. After the departure of René Lévesque, this party experienced problems of succession and orientation. The arrival of François Legault brought the notion of nationalism back to the fore and made it the bedrock of his government’s policies.
In the early 1970s, the PQ thus contributed to excluding Duplessis’ old party (the Union Nationale) from the Quebec political scene. He was the gravedigger of a form of folkloric nationalism. As for him, the party of René Lévesque had the option of removing Quebec from the grip of English Canada to allow it to stand on its own two feet.
Thus, in the minds of Quebecers, the hope of independence had replaced an obsolete provincial nationalism. However, after the passage of the federalist liberals of Charest and Couillard, the momentum of Quebec cooled somewhat. […]
Will CAQ nationalist policies succeed in neutralizing the only party whose independence for Quebec is the cornerstone of its political program? We will have the answer on October 3. If this is the case and if the trend continues, will we see another vehicle emerge after the election that will carry new independence ideals? This party, which could be a renewed PQ, could it not constitute a new option after the great disillusion which is likely to result from the rejections of the requests of Quebec near Ottawa? So, couldn’t the competitive choice of sovereignty repair the foreseeable collapse of the nationalist policies of the CAQ?
Obviously, this projection will be possible on the condition that the sovereignist movement is restructured around a unifying party by 2026. This political formation could even be a sovereignist CAQ, where the disillusioned federalist elements would have left the party following judgments unfavorable Supreme Court rulings that would attack the core of Bills 21 and 96, which minimally define the Quebec nation. In this sense, the CAQ would really bear its name, the Coalition avenir Québec.
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