Bad time for Quebec separatists

Donald Trump’s threats to forcibly make Canada the 51st state have delivered a setback to Quebec’s separatist parties, suddenly reducing support for making Quebec an independent country, and increasing national pride.

According to one poll, there are now more separatists in Alberta than in Quebec.

It is an obvious reaction to Trump, says pollster Sébastien Dallaire, vice president of Leger. Under threat from a giant, Quebecers are cooling on the idea of “creating a separate Quebec, knowing that you would have to face the same giant but as a smaller country that needs to build new institutions, needs to build its own army.”

The drop in support has even led to some infighting within the movement. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the popular leader of the provincial Parti Quebecois, expressed frustration Tuesday with the leader of the federal Bloc Quebecois, Yves-François Blanchet, after the Bloc scooped up a star PQ candidate.

The renewed enthusiasm for Canada – and hostility toward the United States – was on display Saturday night in Montreal, where hockey fans present for a Canada-US game booed the Stars and Stripes and heartily belted out “O Canada” in a building where, in the past, it has been booed.

Tonight in Montreal, American hockey fans will get to return the favor when Canada and the United States face off in the dramatic final of the international series.

May the best team win!