Separatist party wins Quebec election, adding new test to Canada's unity

Canada's Parti Québécois (PQ) is projected to have won enough seats in Quebec's provincial election to form a minority government, though the separatists will need other parties' support to achieve their aims - such as a new public vote on independence.

In his victory speech, St-Pierre Plamondon again raised his independence plans but vowed to be "the premier of everyone in Quebec".

In its effort to achieve independence, the PQ has pledged to hold a referendum on separating from the rest of Canada.

St-Pierre Plamondon has previously said the vote would occur after President Donald Trump is out of office south of the border in the United States, explaining that would require "conditions that allow for an informed and serene debate". The US and Canada are in a trade war as a result of Trump's programme of tariffs.

But it is not clear how the PQ leader would secure the vote that he wants - given that rival parties, upon whose support he would depend, oppose independence.

Canada's Carney stresses unity in the face of challenges at homePublished22 January

With most votes counted on Tuesday morning, the party was set to win fewer than the 64 seats needed to command a majority in the province's assembly, according to projections from Canadian media.

All parties benefited from the collapse of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), which was previously the province's governing party but is not projected to have won a single seat this time.

Carney may find himself managing dual unity crises in different parts of the country, depending on the outcome of a vote in Alberta on whether to have a referendum of its own.

He suggested during the campaign that he was going to pressure Ottawa, external on issues like immigration, vowing to fight any increases mandated by the Carney government.

"We are going to do what we have to do to get the monarchy out of Quebec, repatriate those funds, and send them to social causes," he told reporters in late September.

Plamondon was among the Quebec lawmakers who refused to pledge allegiance to the King in 2022, paving the way for a provincial law that now makes the oath of allegiance optional.