MONTREAL, Aug 20 — Quebec’s separatist party, the current favorite to win October elections in the Canadian province, said yesterday it will not hold an independence referendum while US President Donald Trump is in power.

The comments from Parti Quebecois (PQ) leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon highlighted Trump’s broad influence across Canadian politics, with regional actors calibrating their positions in response to the US president’s volatile governing style.

Plamondon, widely known by his initials PSPP, said any decision on Quebec’s independence “requires conditions that allow for an informed and calm debate.”

“It must not be hijacked by the upheavals of American politics, nor by the theatrics of an unpredictable president,” he added in a social media post.

While polls suggest the PQ is favored to form Quebec’s next government, surveys also indicate that most people in the majority francophone province do not want to break away from Canada.

An August 8 poll from the Leger firm said 63 per cent of Quebecers opposed independence, 28 percent were in favor, and nine percent were undecided.

Experts on Quebec politics have argued for months that Trump would drag down the pro-independence camp.

Through his punishing tariffs and annexation threats, Trump has shaken a bilateral relationship Canadians once viewed as safe.

Voting to create a new country in Quebec would bring fresh uncertainty, with Canada already under relentless pressure from Washington, experts have said.

Plamondon said if elected his government would work to improve public services, address affordability issues and “restore the confidence Quebecers have in themselves as a nation.”

But, he added, “this would be the worst possible time to reflect on our future because of Trump.”

In the western oil-rich province of Alberta, separatists have argued that Trump’s tenure marks a strategic moment to break free from Canada.

They have generally rejected joining the United States as a 51st state but argued that Trump would provide financial and political support for Alberta independence in exchange for favorable access to the province’s vast crude reserves. — AFP