The Parti Québécois rallied around Quebec independence at its annual congress in Saint-Hyacinthe on Jan. 24, 2026, where hundreds of delegates began adopting a platform for a future government centred on holding a sovereignty referendum during a first mandate, as the party leads in Quebec voting intentions.
‘The last PQ congress before independence?’
Hundreds of delegates gathered in Saint-Hyacinthe, about 60 kilometres east of Montreal, for a weekend congress the party framed as the drafting table of the next Quebec government. The PQ is polling near the top in voter intentions ahead of the provincial election set for October, even though support for independence itself continues to lag behind the party’s overall popularity.
The mood among activists was unmistakably ambitious. “Someone told me this is the last PQ congress before independence — is that true?” Bloc Québécois MP Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay asked Friday night, drawing applause from the crowd.
Carolanne Boileau, president of the PQ’s national youth council, told members they were gathered to “adopt the platform of the next Quebec government,” a signal of how completely the party — reduced to three seats in 2022 — now expects to win.
Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, however, struck a note of caution on Friday, urging delegates to stay disciplined. “Do not give in to the temptation to get carried away, nor to the fear of the moment,” he said, emphasizing measured action ahead of the vote.
A platform built around sovereignty
The draft platform put before delegates contained more than 300 proposals covering health care, labour, education, immigration, climate and public administration. Its centrepiece is a commitment to hold a referendum on sovereignty during a first mandate — the pledge St-Pierre Plamondon has made the defining test of a PQ government.
Delegates also debated proposals to revise physician compensation models and limit the incorporation of doctors, a practice delegates heard reduced federal and provincial tax revenues by an estimated $252.5 million in 2022. Labour proposals aimed to make unionization easier across all sectors — a direct contrast with the governing Coalition Avenir Québec, which recently introduced legislation making part of union dues optional.
Other measures included 10 paid days off for victims of sexual and domestic violence, a national education commission, an end to what the party calls a “three-speed school system” by barring publicly funded schools from selecting students, guaranteed school meals for all primary schoolchildren, and an annual carbon budget to track greenhouse gas emissions.
On immigration, the draft proposed ending Quebec’s participation in the federal temporary foreign worker program, limiting temporary foreign workers to 40,000 and capping international students at 50,000.
Sovereigntist parties close ranks
The congress also highlighted renewed ties between the PQ and its federal counterpart. Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet addressed the crowd Saturday in unusually personal terms: “I am a Parti Québécois activist. Your commitment is my commitment. Your fight is my fight. And as a PQ activist, your leader is my leader.”
Blanchet told reporters the Bloc intends to collaborate with the PQ toward a potential majority government and a referendum campaign — a notable thaw between two parties that have previously quarrelled over candidate recruitment and campaign coordination. He also demanded an apology from Prime Minister Mark Carney for remarks made in Quebec City about the Plains of Abraham, which Blanchet said overlooked Quebec’s history.
The timing matters for the governing CAQ, which is consumed by its own leadership race following François Legault’s resignation. Delegates voted on the platform proposals over the weekend; once adopted, they will form the basis of the PQ’s election platform, with independence at the front of the party’s agenda.
