DCHP-2

Parti Québécois Parti Quebecois, PQ DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — Politics, French relations, especially Quebec

  a political party in Quebec that aims to achieve political independence for the province.

  Type: 1. Origin — The Parti Québécois (PQ) was founded in 1968 by the union of the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association (MSA) and the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance national (RIN). The party won the provincial election of 1976, and remained in power until 1985 when defeated by the Liberals. The PQ rose to power again in 1994 and was re-elected in 1998, but was defeated again by the Liberals in 2003. In 2012, the PQ won the provincial election to form a minority government.
  The mandate of the PQ since its inception has been to achieve political sovereignty/separatism for Quebec. In 1980, the party held a referendum to decide whether to negotiate for sovereignty-association, which resulted in 60% of voters voting against the proposal. Another referendum was held in 1995, with the votes against sovereignty-association in the majority by the narrowest of margins (see Canadian Encyclopedia reference).
  Note that the term is not translated in English as "The Quebec Party", but retains its French name in English contexts, albeit often without the French diacritics. Internet searches indicate that the term is most prevalent in Canada (see Chart 1).
  See also COD-2, s.v. "Parti Québécois", Gage-5, s.v. "Parti Québécois", which are marked "Cdn", and ITP Nelson, s.v. "Parti Québécois", which is described as "Quebec".

  See also: separatism  Péquiste  language police  sovereignty-association  Meech Lake Accord  sovereignty (meaning 1)