After the narrow 50.58% to 49.42% defeat of the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty (October 30), the then-premier of Quebec, Jacques Parizeau, made a concession speech in which he made his infamous remark blaming the defeat on "money and the ethnic vote". Although Parizeau later apologized for his statement, the remark has since been widely used by federalists to discredit the sovereigntist movement as racist. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... October 30 is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 62 days remaining. ... Jacques Parizeau, Ph. ...

Most recently it resurfaced in the 2003 televised Quebec Leaders' Debate of the 2003 Quebec election campaign, when Jean Charest quoted what sovereignists consider an arguably poorly referenced newspaper article on the matter to baffle his rival, Bernard Landry. See Parizeau Affair. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Map of Quebecs ridings and how they voted by percentage. ... The Honourable John James Jean Charest (sha-ræ), PC, MNA (born June 24, 1958) is a Quebecois lawyer and politician. ... Jean-Bernard Landry, born March 9, 1937 in Saint-Jacques, Quebec, (near Joliette), is a Quebec lawyer, teacher, politician, past Premier of Quebec, Canada, (2001–2003), former leader of the Opposition (2003–2005) and former leader of the Parti Québécois (2001–2005). ... Jacques Parizeau and Bernard Landry. ...

The quotation

Original:

"C'est vrai, c'est vrai qu'on a été battus, au fond, par quoi? Par l'argent puis des votes ethniques, essentiellement. Alors ça veut dire que la prochaine fois, au lieu d'être 60 ou 61 % à voter OUI on sera 63 ou 64 % et ça suffira. C'est tout. Mais là, mes amis, dans les mois qui viennent, on va... Écoutez : Il y a des gens qui ont eu tellement peur que la tentation de se venger ça va être quelque chose! Et là, jamais il ne sera aussi important d'avoir à Québec ce gouvernement du Parti Québécois pour nous protéger jusqu'à la prochaine!"

• Original transcript of Jacques Parizeau's speech (French)

Translation:

"It's true, it's true that we have been defeated, but basically by what? By money and some ethnic votes, essentially. So all it means is that, in the next round, instead of being 60 or 61 per cent to vote YES, we will be 63 or 64 per cent and it will suffice. That's all. But now my friends, in the months that will come, we are going to... Listen: Some people got so afraid that the temptation to take revenge is going to be something! And never again will it be more important to have a Parti Québécois government to protect us until the next time!"

The Parti Québécois or PQ is a political party that advocates national sovereignty for Quebec from Canada, as well as social democratic policies and has traditionally had support from the labour movement though unlike other social democratic parties it has no formal ties with labour. ...

Money

Quebec has very strict political party financing and public consultation laws which cover the referendum process. To circumvent these strict regulations, the federalist coalition used federal and provincial agencies outside Quebec, which were not governed by Quebec's laws, to finance the NO campaign; particularly for the October 27 federalist rally held in Montreal. (See Option Canada) October 27 is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 65 days remaining. ... City motto: Concordia Salus (Latin: Well-being through harmony) Province Quebec Mayor Gérald Tremblay MPs Vivian Barbot, Bernard Bigras, Denis Coderre, Irwin Cotler, Stéphane Dion, Gilles Duceppe, Marlene Jennings, Francine Lalonde, Jean Lapierre, Paul Martin, Réal Ménard, Serge Ménard, Maria Mourani, Massimo Pacetti, Bernard Patry... Option Canada is a a Montreal-based lobby group established some eight weeks before the voting day of the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty. ...

The total cost for this rally alone was estimated at approximately $4.8 million, a portion of which was in the form of paid leaves and 90% discounts on plane and train tickets for people wishing to travel to Montreal for the rally. The amount thus spent was more than the amount spent by both the sovereignist (Yes) and the official federalist (No) sides during the campaign. Some political analysts have advanced that the federalist rally, held just three days before the vote, tipped the scales in favour of the federalist option.

It is now known that the No side had as much as 10 times more money than the Yes side.^{[citation needed]}.

The ethnic vote

In the analysis of voting patterns, an "ethnic vote" is a vote where members of a given ethnic group strongly support a candidate or an option in a distinct manner. For example, Pierre Elliott Trudeau wrote that French-Canadians have historically voted for the candidate with a French name instead of voting for the candidate with the best policy for Quebec. This was considered an insult by most, implying that French-Canadians did not vote intelligently. Name Pierre Elliott Trudeau Number Fifteenth First term April 20, 1968–June 4,1979 Second term March 3, 1980–June 30, 1984 Predecessor Lester Bowles Pearson Successors Joe Clark John Napier Turner Date of birth October 18, 1919 Place of birth Montreal, Quebec Date of death September 28, 2000 Spouse...

In Quebec, three linguistic groups exhibit traditional voting patterns: francophones, anglophones and allophones (residents whose native tongue is neither English nor French). Since the 1970s, the francophone vote has been split between the federalist and sovereigntist options (40% and 60% respectively in 1995). The anglophone vote is largely federalist (95%), as is the allophone vote (roughly 92%). In the 1980 Quebec referendum, combined allophone and anglophone support for sovereignty was around 8%. In 1995 it was roughly 3%. A francophone is a person who speaks French natively or by adoption (i. ... An anglophone is someone who speaks English natively or by adoption. ... This is article is about the term used in Quebec and Canada. ... The 1980 Quebec referendum was the first referendum in Quebec on the role of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward independent statehood (sovereignty). The referendum was called by Quebecs Parti Québécois (PQ) government, which strongly favoured secession. ...

During the 2003 election, however, surveys showed that the non-working students "children of Bill 101" were slightly more voting along the lines of the francophone majority, confirming that the determinant factor in Quebec elections and referenda is not the ethnic origin of the voter, but the language he/she uses, hence the suggestion that "ethnic vote" is not appropriate to describe the phenomenon. The vote is clearly split along linguistic lines, non-francophones voting almost invariably for the party or option opposed to separatism, which they often consider a French-Canadian ethnic, if not chauvinistic, issue. The children of Bill 101 (les enfants de la loi 101) is the name given to the generation of children whose parents immigrated to Quebec, Canada after the adoption of the 1977 Charter of the French Language (aka Bill 101). ... Separatism involves setting oneself or others apart. ...

Nous

This passage also refers to the voting patterns, where the "61% in favour" refers to the francophone vote. While Parizeau was mostly chastised for excluding anglophones and allophones from his definition of nous (us), he was critical of the split in the francophone vote in this passage. In a way he was saying that "everyone" (i.e. the French) was responsible for the defeat. International critics, notably the Socialist International, decried this political perspective as chaunivinistic nationalism, but this perspective remains controversial within the sovereignist movement. The official symbol of Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is an international organisation for social democratic and democratic socialist parties. ...

Repercussions

After having lost the referendum and facing controversy for his remarks, Jacques Parizeau resigned, saying that he always had the intention to resign if he were to lose his referendum. Indeed, during the campaign, he publicly stated on Radio-Canada television that this is what he intended to do.

The phrase has haunted the Parti Québécois ever since. However it received an unexpected "confirmation" in 2005 during the Gomery inquiry when Liberal party organizer Benoît Corbeil explicitly referred to Parizeau's remarks while describing how the federal government did spend lots of money to gain immigrants' sympathies in the months prior to the 1995 referendum, including fast-tracking approval of immigration and naturalization requests. The Gomery Commission, formally the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, is a federal Canadian commission headed by the retired Justice John Gomery for the purpose of investigating the sponsorship scandal, which involves allegations of corruption within the Canadian government. ...

Adversaries of Quebec's independence have remarked that both camps spent a lot of resources bringing out "their" vote and that the 95% participation rate implies that both were successful. However, proponents of Quebec's independence have suggested that the Yes side spent their resources without breaking either the Quebec referendum law or the federal Immigration law.