MONTREAL (CP) - Support for sovereignty dropped in Quebec in the immediate aftermath of the Conservative election victory that included a breakthrough in the province, according to a new poll.
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The poll by the Montreal-based CROP firm for Montreal La Presse newspaper suggested the number of Quebecers who supported an independent Quebec dropped to 34 per cent after the federal election from 43 per cent prior to the Jan. 23 federal election.
Maxime Bernier, one of 10 Conservative candidates elected in Quebec last week said Wednesday that addressing provincial concerns like the so-called fiscal imbalance between the provinces and the federal government will boost federalists in Quebec and Tory support across Canada.
"We must deliver," Bernier said.
But "if we don't deliver, we're going to be judged in two years, three years, four years."
The election results also helped increase support for Premier Jean Charest's Liberals, who had been consistently unpopular with Quebecers in recent polls.
According to the poll, support jumped to 27 per cent from 17 per cent for Charest's Liberals, while Parti Quebecois support dropped to 38 per cent from 44 per cent.
Of the 1,000 respondents, the number who said they would vote to keep Quebec as a province of Canada jumped to 58 per cent after the election from 49 per cent ahead of the election.
"It's significant," Claude Gauthier, vice president of CROP, told La Presse. "The changes are not minimal."
The pressure is now on prime minister-designate Stephen Harper and his Conservatives to deliver for the province or risk alienating Quebec federalists for good, warn pundits.
"This is all promise and expectations," said Pierre Martin, a professor of political science at the University of Montreal.
Voters who had given up on the federal Liberals have thrown their support behind the Conservatives, he said.
But "if things remain as they are or even become worse, then there will be a backlash," Martin said.
The poll asked respondents how they would vote today on the same question put to Quebecers in 1995 - sovereignty within a partnership with Canada.
Prior to the election, 49 per cent suggested they would have voted yes and 41 per cent said they would have voted no.
In the days after the Conservatives were elected, 41 per cent said they would have voted yes, compared with 53 per cent who would have voted no.
In total, 1,000 people were polled - 533 between Jan. 19 and election day and 467 from Jan. 24 to Jan. 29. The poll has a margin of error of four percentage points 19 times out of 20 for each of the two groups.
Parti Quebecois Leader Andre Boisclair said he was not discouraged by the poll.
Harper made many promises, he told reporters in Quebec City.
"It's up to him to deliver the goods," Boisclair said.
If Harper turns his back on Kyoto and reopens the debate on same-sex marriage or gun control - issues Boisclair said are important to Quebecers - "it will be to the advantage of the sovereigntist family."
The sovereigntist leader said the PQ has more than 80,000 members and Harper at the helm in Ottawa doesn't change that.
The PQ has said it will hold a sovereignty referendum in its first mandate if it wins the next provincial election.
The next provincial election is largely expected next year but Charest does not have to call an election until the spring of 2008.
Economic Development Minister Claude Bechard welcomed the poll, but blamed Boisclair for the failing separatist numbers.
He said Quebec voters are responding to overtures from a new federal government.
"I understand Mr. Boisclair to be a bit nervous," Bechard said
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20060201/ca_pr_on_na/que_sovereignty;_ylt=Amme72CHYap0SJO3QETU6_xvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
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The poll by the Montreal-based CROP firm for Montreal La Presse newspaper suggested the number of Quebecers who supported an independent Quebec dropped to 34 per cent after the federal election from 43 per cent prior to the Jan. 23 federal election.
Maxime Bernier, one of 10 Conservative candidates elected in Quebec last week said Wednesday that addressing provincial concerns like the so-called fiscal imbalance between the provinces and the federal government will boost federalists in Quebec and Tory support across Canada.
"We must deliver," Bernier said.
But "if we don't deliver, we're going to be judged in two years, three years, four years."
The election results also helped increase support for Premier Jean Charest's Liberals, who had been consistently unpopular with Quebecers in recent polls.
According to the poll, support jumped to 27 per cent from 17 per cent for Charest's Liberals, while Parti Quebecois support dropped to 38 per cent from 44 per cent.
Of the 1,000 respondents, the number who said they would vote to keep Quebec as a province of Canada jumped to 58 per cent after the election from 49 per cent ahead of the election.
"It's significant," Claude Gauthier, vice president of CROP, told La Presse. "The changes are not minimal."
The pressure is now on prime minister-designate Stephen Harper and his Conservatives to deliver for the province or risk alienating Quebec federalists for good, warn pundits.
"This is all promise and expectations," said Pierre Martin, a professor of political science at the University of Montreal.
Voters who had given up on the federal Liberals have thrown their support behind the Conservatives, he said.
But "if things remain as they are or even become worse, then there will be a backlash," Martin said.
The poll asked respondents how they would vote today on the same question put to Quebecers in 1995 - sovereignty within a partnership with Canada.
Prior to the election, 49 per cent suggested they would have voted yes and 41 per cent said they would have voted no.
In the days after the Conservatives were elected, 41 per cent said they would have voted yes, compared with 53 per cent who would have voted no.
In total, 1,000 people were polled - 533 between Jan. 19 and election day and 467 from Jan. 24 to Jan. 29. The poll has a margin of error of four percentage points 19 times out of 20 for each of the two groups.
Parti Quebecois Leader Andre Boisclair said he was not discouraged by the poll.
Harper made many promises, he told reporters in Quebec City.
"It's up to him to deliver the goods," Boisclair said.
If Harper turns his back on Kyoto and reopens the debate on same-sex marriage or gun control - issues Boisclair said are important to Quebecers - "it will be to the advantage of the sovereigntist family."
The sovereigntist leader said the PQ has more than 80,000 members and Harper at the helm in Ottawa doesn't change that.
The PQ has said it will hold a sovereignty referendum in its first mandate if it wins the next provincial election.
The next provincial election is largely expected next year but Charest does not have to call an election until the spring of 2008.
Economic Development Minister Claude Bechard welcomed the poll, but blamed Boisclair for the failing separatist numbers.
He said Quebec voters are responding to overtures from a new federal government.
"I understand Mr. Boisclair to be a bit nervous," Bechard said
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20060201/ca_pr_on_na/que_sovereignty;_ylt=Amme72CHYap0SJO3QETU6_xvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
