Quebecois Victory Marred by Violence
Wednesday, September 5th, 2012September 5, 2012
An election victory celebration in Montreal, Canada, was thrown into chaos last night by a possible assassination attempt in which one man was killed and another wounded. Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois was giving a victory speech when shots rang out at the back of the hall. The victims, employees of the Metropolis concert hall, were shot while attempting to subdue the gunman. Later, as the gunman was arrested, he shouted “The English are waking up” in accented French, then in English, yelled “there will be payback.”
Parti Quebecois is set to form a minority government after garnering 54 of the 125 seats in the provincial legislature in primarily French-speaking Quebec. The victory puts the party in power after nearly a decade of Liberal government. The Parti Quebecois calls for Quebec to separate from Canada and become an independent nation. According to witnesses in the hall, party leader Marois had just declared, “We want a country and we will have it,” when the shooting began.
Police have yet to establish a motive, but the possibility that Ms. Marois was the target is not being ruled out. Quebec’s first female premier, Marois has voiced a number of demands of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper: including strengthening laws protecting Quebec’s French language and identity; and surrendering control of the unemployment program to the provincial government.
The Parti Quebecois first gained control of the Quebec legislature in elections in 1976. In 1980, it carried out a referendum on whether to open discussion with the federal government of Canada on what party leaders called a “sovereignty association” between Quebec and the rest of Canada. Such an association would have given Quebec political independence while maintaining economic ties to Canada. Quebec voters decisively voted down the referendum. A second referendum, in 1995, was also defeated, though narrowly. According to political experts, popular support within Quebec for another referendum is low.
Additional World Book articles:
- Bloc Québécois
- Levesque, Rene
- Quebec 1976 (a Back in Time article)
- Quebec 1980 (a Back in Time article)
- Quebec 1995 (a Back in Time article)
- Canadian provinces 2011 (a Back in Time article)