What Quebeckers Voted for, and Against

A great irony of the separatist project is that it is always more honest about its objectives in defeat than during a campaign. This was never more true than late on Monday night, as the three dauphins of the PQ – Pierre Karl Péladeau, Jean-François Lisée and Bernard Drainville – and defeated Premier Pauline Marois appeared on stage together and delivered concession speeches. After spending an entire campaign pretending that independence was a word they’d never heard of, that sovereignty was the furthest thing from their minds, and that the threat of another referendum was some slander dreamed up by their opponents, the defeated but defiant PQ brain trust was happy to reveal that sovereignty, one way or the other, remains the cornerstone of the party, and the polestar of their political lives.