Quebec Sovereignty Push in Doubt after Election Defeat

Quebec's independence movement faced an uncertain future on Tuesday after its standard-bearer, the Parti Quebecois, suffered a crushing defeat in snap elections.

The Parti Quebecois (PQ) leader Pauline Marois had triggered the midterm elections 18 months into her first mandate hoping to gain seats to form a majority in the Canadian province.

But in a shocking turnaround, the PQ lost 24 seats while the federalist Liberals led by Philippe Couillard gained 21.

With 41.5 percent of votes cast for the Liberals and only 25.4 percent going to the PQ, the Liberals swept to power with a whopping 70 out 125 seats in the province's legislature.

Marois, who lost her own seat in the race, was left with little choice but to resign after nearly 40 years in Quebec politics -- both in government and opposition.

"You will understand that under the circumstances tonight I am leaving my post," she said in her concession speech late Monday, adding that she was "deeply saddened."

"For the supporters of the Parti Quebecois it's a sad evening indeed. Let me put it this way: We are grieving," PQ supporter Sebastien Lavoie told Agence France Presse.

Newspaper headlines shouted "Couillard knocks out the PQ" (Le Devoir) and "PQ crushed" (The Globe and Mail).

The loss for the PQ marked its worst showing since its formation in 1970 in order to pursue Quebec independence.

It is also the first time in four decades that a Quebec government has failed to secure a second term in legislative elections.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the vote results "clearly demonstrate that Quebecers have rejected the idea of a referendum (on Quebec independence) and want a government that will be focused on the economy and job creation."

But not everyone agrees that the election drubbing was the PQ's death knell.

Among them is Laval University politics professor Francois Petry, who conceded that the PQ "miscalculated Quebecers' patience for talk about the possibility of another referendum" during the campaign.

Quebecers twice rejected splitting from the rest of Canada in 1980 and 1995 referendums. And recent polling shows two out of three Quebecers do not want to reopen the thorny debate.

Marois had actually kicked off the campaign pitching a secular values charter, which would ban public sector workers from wearing religious apparel, including headscarves, turbans and yarmulkes.

But the fight for the province's six million voters suddenly turned to focus on whether a majority PQ government would hold a third referendum on Quebec independence in the next four years, with the Liberals warning of economic and social turmoil should a majority PQ government bent on independence win.

Petry noted that the key question of Quebec's "identity" either within the Canadian federation or as an independent French-speaking nation is still not resolved. And so the sovereigntist movement will persist, he said.

Of course, the PQ will have to ask itself some "tough questions" about its priorities, notably Quebec independence. This is its "raison d'être, they cannot abandon it" and that will lead to some heated internal debates, said Ottawa University professor Robert Asselin.

He agrees that the PQ will not fade away anytime soon.

"I would be surprised if 30 to 35 percent of Quebecers that support independence would suddenly stop believing in the dream," said Asselin.