Quebec separatist says no independence referendum while Trump in office

The head of a major secessionist party in the Canadian province of Quebec has promised not to hold a referendum on independence until United States President Donald Trump has left office.

Parti Quebecois (PQ) leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said on Tuesday that debate over the issue could only proceed calmly once Trump is no longer president.

“It must not be hijacked by the upheavals of American politics, nor by the outbursts of an unpredictable president, nor by fear campaigns,” St-Pierre Plamondon said. “This unpredictability of the American administration will harm our process as well as the quality of the debate on our future as a nation.”

Quebec must hold its next provincial election by October 5, and the Parti Quebecois is hoping to make gains at the ballot box.

Polls currently suggest it is leading the province’s Liberal Party and the Coalition Avenir Quebec, which has the greatest number of seats in Quebec’s National Assembly.

St-Pierre Plamondon affirmed that he intended to seek an independence referendum should his party win this year.

But such a vote, he said, would wait until later in the four-year term, after Trump’s second term concludes in January 2029.

Since returning to the presidency in 2025, Trump’s hostility towards Canada has redefined cross-border relations.