Over the course of human history, certain years have proven to be more important than others. Over the course of 12 months, things happen that change everything. Nothing is ever the same again.
For example, the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. We can look at the fall of Constantinople in 1453, giving rise to the Ottoman Empire and forever altering the power dynamics and trade within Europe.
There was 1492, and Columbus’s landing in the Americas has to be on this list. Then there’s 1760, or thereabouts, and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
The year 1848 was significant because of all the democratic revolutions that spread across Europe. At the same time, Karl Marx was laying the foundations for the communist revolutions to come by writing his Communist Manifesto.
1914 marked the start of World War I. Then came 1945 and the beginning of the post-World War II era, with the United Nations, America’s emergence as a superpower, the Cold War, and so on.
When it comes to music, we can look at 1955, the year rock ’n’ roll really began to break through. The Beatles came to America in 1964. Then there was Woodstock in ’69.
And then we have 1976. This has been declared—rightly so, in my opinion—the year that what we now call “alternative rock” was born, thanks to the punk rock explosion that happened on both sides of the Atlantic during those 12 months. So much happened so fast that rock was never the same again.
Here, let me prove it. This is 1976: The Birth Year of Alt-Rock, Part 2.
Songs heard on this show:
Ramones, Beat on the Brat
Sex Pistols, Pretty Vacant (Live)
Ramones, Loudmouth (Live)
Ramones, Judy is a Punk
The Clash, White Riot
Ramones, Now I Want to Sniff Some Glue
The Clash, Guns of Brixton
The Damned, New Rose
Sex Pistols, Anarchy in the UK
The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on these stations:
LOS ANGELES - SEPTEMBER 1998: (EDITORS NOTE: THIS IMAGE WAS CREATED USING COLOR INFRA RED FILM) American rock band with Armenian roots,System of a Down, (drummer John Dolmayan, guitarist Daron Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian and lead vocalist Serj Tankian pose for a September 1998 portrait in Los Angeles, California.
(Photo by Bob Berg/Getty Images)
When System of a Down was working on the Toxicity album, there was a lot of tension within the group, tension that led to actual fistfights. One night in the studio, drummer John Dolmayan punched guitarist Daron Malakian. He responded by slamming Dolmayan with a mic stand. Both of them ended up in the same emergency ward that night, getting stitched up next to each other.
When the album came out in September 2004, the band had a free concert planned for a parking lot in Hollywood. They figured about a thousand people would show up. Instead, the gig attracted 10,000 people. When fire marshals cancelled the gig, there was a riot. The crowd rushed the stage and destroyed about $30,000 worth of gear. Cops had to fire on the crowd with rubber bullets. Six people were arrested.
And while the gig was a disaster, it made System of a Down more famous than ever.
Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age performs live on stage during Queens of the Stone Age and Friends show in Finsbury Park on June 30, 2018 in London, England. Picture date: Saturday 30 June, 2018.
Photo: Katja Ogrin/ EMPICS Entertainment
Queens of the Stone Age have a pretty distinctive sound. How did Josh Homme’s writing style develop? Polka music.
Josh grew up in Palm Desert, California, a place he said didn’t offer a lot in terms of guitar teachers. The best he could do was a guy named Tom Polonsky whose specialty was polka music. Young Josh learned the guitar through playing those kinds of tunes over the course of two years’ worth of lessons.
Now that you know that, go back and listen to some Queens of the Stone Age Music, especially the song “No One Knows.” If you deconstruct that track down to its very essence, you can hear the distinctive bounce of a polka. This isn’t the only Queens song that feels this way.
Josh says that polka music is so ingrained in him that the polka feel keeps showing up in his songwriting as a default, whether he wants it to or not.
Iranian national Amin Yousefijam at Immigration and the Refugee Board office in Etobicoke, Ont., on Feb. 19, 2025.
A former Tehran police lieutenant living in Toronto under a new name is being deported from Canada for his “important and critical role” in a crime group that helped Iran evade sanctions.
The Immigration and Refugee Board ruled that Amin Yousefijam was “crucial” to the sanctions-dodging scheme, according to a copy of the 36-page decision released to Global News on Tuesday.
The IRB ruled that the Iranian citizen, who has resided in Canada since 2016, was the group’s logistician and oversaw shipping arrangements for the transnational procurement operation.
The electronics, motors and other materials he exported to Iran were “dual-use,” meaning they had both civilian and military applications, and could be harnessed to manufacture weapons of mass destruction.
“Yousefijam is a member of an organization that engaged in criminal activity that directly contravened sanctions imposed by Canada and the U.S.A. against the export of certain items to Iran,” IRB Member Christopher Marcinkiewicz wrote.
“I issue a deportation order against him.”
The CBSA did not respond by deadline to questions about Yousefijam’s deportation. Reached by phone, Yousefijam said he was still in Canada.
He would not say whether he had appealed his deportation order. “This is an ongoing legal matter so I won’t be able to discuss that in the interview,” he said.
“I’m considering my options and the minister has their options, so it’s still ongoing,” he said. “Right now I’m just, you know, living my life peacefully.”
But the ruling could put an end to his life in Canada, which began a decade ago when he arrived from Tehran, where his name was Amin Riki.
Arrested in Toronto in 2021, he was extradited to Michigan to stand trial for his alleged role in the sanctions evasion gang, which was led by his brother Arash.
After pleading guilty, Yousefijam was deported to Ontario, where he changed his name again, this time to Ameen Cohen – the third identity he is known to have adopted.
In its ruling, the IRB noted that when he applied to the Ontario government for a legal name change, he was asked whether he had ever been convicted of a criminal offence.
He answered “No.”
The IRB accused him of “providing false information on a government form,” rejecting Yousefijam’s claim that a government employee told him he didn’t need to report convictions outside Canada.
“I find that his failure to declare his U.S. conviction on his name change was done intentionally,” the IRB wrote, adding Yousefijam’s conduct was “indicative of someone who will say whatever he believes serves his immediate purpose.”
Arash (left) and Amin Yousefijam changed their names to Aurash and Ameen Cohen after they were convicted of helping Iran evade sanctions.
The deportation order was issued in July but was only released to Global News this week. It comes amid a U.S. war on Iran and Ottawa’s continuing efforts to expel regime members from Canada.
Iranian-Canadians have long complained that members and supporters of Iran’s repressive regime, as well as their families, have been treating Canada as a safe haven.
The government banned senior Iranian officials from Canada in 2022. Since then, the CBSA has opened dozens of investigations into regime members identified across the country.
As of Oct. 1, the Canada Border Services Agency said it had found 40 top-level Iranian regime officials living in Canadian cities. Two have been deported so far while eight have left voluntarily.
Two more are awaiting removal while the rest are to be brought before the Immigration and Refugee Board, or have already had deportation hearings.
Meanwhile, Global News revealed last month that the son of Iran’s former vice president has been living in Edmonton and operating businesses under the name “Sal Ghafouri.”
Federal agencies, including the RCMP and Canadian Forces, have awarded the Iranian citizen almost $2-million in contracts, although he is under investigation over his alleged work for Iran’s military.
The CBSA’s attempt to deport Yousefijam has dragged on for more than two years. Deportation hearings began in September 2024 and ended in February 2025.
It’s unclear why it took the IRB until July 2026 to issue its decision, especially considering Yousefijam is not Canadian and was convicted in U.S. court in 2021.
The IRB said Yousefijam knew what he was doing when his brother Arash recruited him into crime group, which aimed to profit from sanctions evasion.
Yousefijam got involved “voluntarily and with knowledge and intent to defeat sanctions,” Marcinkiewicz wrote in his ruling.
“His attempt to distance himself and paint himself as an unsophisticated and ignorant individual working blindly at the behest of his brother undermines his general credibility,” he wrote.
While Yousefijam’s involvement was “more limited” than his brother’s, “it was nevertheless an important and critical role in the overall operation as it largely focused on securing shipping of sanctioned goods from the U.S.A. to Iran,” the IRB wrote.
“Without his involvement in the shipment of the items, they would not have reached their destinations in Iran,” the decision said.
“In other words, his role was not insignificant as he was tasked with contacting the seller and/or shipper in the U.S.A. and arranging or the items to be shipped and in so doing utilizing methods such as ‘cross stuffing.’”
Cross-stuffing is when goods are exported to a transit country, moved from one shipping container to another and then re-shipped to the end destination.
The Yousefijam brothers and a third member of the group used the United Arab Emirates as their hub for moving sanctioned materials to Iran, the IRB wrote.
The CBSA had argued that Yousefijam was a danger to Canada’s security because he had undermined the government’s efforts to contain Iran’s regime.
But the IRB said the CBSA had not proven that Yousefijam remained a security threat. The deportation order was issued based on his role in a criminal organization.
A U.S. court also convicted Yousefijam’s brother, but as a Canadian citizen he does not face immigration enforcement action.
The brother has now changed his name to Aurash Cohen and gone into dentistry. Ontario revoked his dental license in 2024 after Global News revealed his past.
Canada has been using sanctions to counter the threats Iran poses to international security and to its own people, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand.
Since the Iran war began in February, the regime has been linked to an array of plots in Western countries, most recently at a British air base used by the U.S. military.
Iran is one of the five key states involved in foreign interference in Canada, according to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which has called the Islamic Republic a “predator.”
“Iranian intelligence services act indirectly through agents, contacts and sympathizers, including individuals in Canada associated with organized crime groups,” CSIS wrote in its report.
EDMONTON – It was a battle of the NHL’s big guns, and the Edmonton Oilers’ hotshots ended up making the most noise at the end.
Evan Bouchard scored the overtime winner in a 4-3 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild on Tuesday as the Oilers (7-1-1) continued their strong start to the season.
The game was a matchup of the league’s top goal scorer, Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov, versus top point producer Connor McDavid.
With the Wild serving a too-many-men penalty in overtime, Bouchard scored his seventh goal of the season with a bomb of a shot with 1:28 remaining in overtime.
The Wild battled back from a 3-1 deficit after two periods. Bouchard produced the OT winner on his 27th birthday.
“You take what they give you. At that point in time, it was that shot,” Bouchard said.
“They pressed hard, they’re a good hockey team, they weren’t going to quit. There are definitely some things to clean up, but in the end we battled and got the win we needed.
“Good teams find a way to win, and we did that tonight against a very good opposition.”
Bouchard also had an assist for points in eight of nine games this season.
He led all NHL defencemen in goals (seven) and assists (11).
“Any type of shot that (Bouchard) gets off is extremely dangerous,” said Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl, who earned his 75th multi-point game with two goals.
“Accurate, hard, whatever it is, you name it, he’s got it. He’s pretty elite.”
Bouchard was tied for second overall in league scoring with Toronto’s Auston Matthews behind teammate McDavid, whose three assists gave him 26 points in nine games.
Mathieu Joseph also scored for the Oilers who won their second straight and the seventh of their last eight. Edmonton’s goalie Devon Levi stopped 27 shots for the win.
The Oilers picked up Levi from the Buffalo Sabres for a third-round pick in the summer. The 24-year-old from Dollard-Des Ormeaux, Que., played 39 games over four seasons for Buffalo, but spent all of last season in the AHL.
He blossomed in the early running with Edmonton as Levi improved to 5-1-0.
“He’s ultra-competitive,” Oilers head coach Mike Babcock said. “What I like about Levi every day I walk in here, he’s got a smile on his face, he’s always working out, he’s always working, he’s competitive as can be, he feels good about himself.
“When you meet his mom and dad, you can see why. He just seems like a great kid. Five and one, I mean, not a bad record. Good for him.”
Levi said he’s just trying to stay loose and enjoy being given a legitimate shot in the NHL.
“I know what I’m capable of,” he said. “I didn’t really come in here and try to prove anything. At this point of my development, I kind of know who I am and I just wanted to come in and have fun and play with the best players in the world and come into an amazing environment and enjoy myself.
“It’s such a pleasure to be here. Not putting that extreme stress of trying to win the Cup on day one or win the starting position on day one, but just enjoy it and have fun being a pro hockey player in a franchise that is historic.”
McDavid extended his season-opening streak to all nine games.
The Oilers captain became just the sixth player in NHL history with 25 points before their 10th game in a season.
Also achieving the feat — Mario Lemieux (three times, most 33), Mike Bossy (28) Wayne Gretzky (twice; most 27), Brent Sutter (25) and Marcel Dionne (25).
McDavid was already on pace for his 10th career 100-point season. He also became the fastest player in NHL history to reach the 20-assist mark.
Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan Hartman replied for the Wild (6-2-2) who arrived in Edmonton riding two straight wins. Kaprizov scored his league-leading 11th goal in the game.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2026.
VANCOUVER – Logan Stankoven and Nikolaj Ehlers each scored twice and had an assist and the Carolina Hurricanes thumped the struggling Vancouver Canucks 6-3 on Tuesday.
Nicolas Deslauriers also contributed a pair of goals for the Hurricanes (8-2-1), and Jackson Blake registered three helpers.
Carolina’s goalie Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 14 of the 17 shots he faced for the reigning Stanley Cup champions, who were coming off a 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Sunday.
Linus Karlsson, Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Max Sasson scored a goal apiece for the Canucks (2-8-1), whose losing skid stretched to eight games (0-7-2).
Goalie Leevi Merilainen provided a bright spot for Vancouver with 26 saves, and stopped a Sebastian Aho penalty shot attempt in the second period after Canucks centre Elias Pettersson was caught throwing his stick in an attempt to interrupt the centreman’s attack.
Stankoven, who hails from Kamloops, B.C., drew audible cheers from a tranche of fans in the lower bowl when he opened the scoring at the 4:44 mark of the first period.
Blake chipped Stankoven a backhanded pass and the Carolina centreman sent a blast soaring in for his fifth goal of the season.
The Canucks replied midway through the frame when Karlsson fired a shot over Kochetkov’s shoulder for his third goal of the season.
It took the Hurricanes less than two minutes to regain the lead.
Canucks defenceman Tom Willander lost track of Ehlers behind the Vancouver net and the winger took advantage, sneaking up from below the goal line, collecting a pass from Blake and snapping an uncontested shot into a yawning net to give Carolina a 2-1 lead.
With just two seconds left in the opening frame, Lekkerimaki swiped a shot up and in over Kochetkov to level the score again heading into the locker rooms.
Less than three minutes into the second, the visitors capitalized on a Canucks clearing attempt with Jesperi Kotkaniemi picking the puck off along the boards and dishing it to Deslauriers. The veteran forward sent a shot in under the crossbar to put the Hurricanes up 3-2.
The tally marked the first time the journeyman forward had scored since April 2025.
Again, the home side rallied.
Carolina’s Bradly Nadeau collided with Arshdeep Bains in the slot, sending the Vancouver forward crashing into Kochetkov. Sasson — who’d come out of the penalty box moments before — made use of the moment, firing in a shot to knot the score at 3-3.
Deslauriers provided the difference maker at the 4:07 mark of the third. Nadeau chipped him a backhanded pass from along the end boards and the 35-year-old forward put it in off Merilainen to give the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead.
Ehlers added an unassisted goal at 10:21 of the third, then sliced a pass to Stankoven to give him an empty-net goal with just over two minutes to go in the game.
Takeaways
Canucks: Went into the game with the league’s worst penalty kill (58.1 per cent) but killed off three infractions in the second period and a double minor in the third.
Hurricanes: There were tense moments for the already battered team midway through the second period when Ehlers went down in a heap after taking contact along the boards. He appeared to be favouring his right leg as he left the ice, but returned after speaking to a trainer on the bench for several minutes.
Key moment
Kochetkov prevented Vancouver from gaining momentum — and the lead — late in the second period when he snatched Drew O’Connor’s shot out of the air.
Key stat
The Hurricanes also beat the Canucks 7-2 on Oct. 8 and extended their win streak against the Canucks to six straight dating back to October 2024.
Up next
Canucks: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
Hurricanes: Visit the Oilers in Edmonton on Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2026.
EDMONTON – Evan Bouchard scored in overtime for the Edmonton Oilers who continued their strong start to the season with a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
Leon Draisaitl scored twice and Connor McDavid had three assists for the Oilers (7-1-1) who have won two in a row and seven of their last eight. Mathieu Joseph also scored. Devon Levi made 27 stops to earn the win in the Oilers’ net.
Joel Eriksson Ek, Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman replied for the Wild (6-2-2) who saw a two-game winning streak halted.
Jesper Wallstedt recorded 28 saves for Minnesota.
TAKEAWAYS
Wild: Kaprizov picked up an assist and his league-leading 11 goal to hit 17 points on the season, the second-most through 10 games in franchise history behind his own 21 in 2024-25.
Oilers: McDavid extended his season-starting points streak to all nine games. The Oilers’ captain became just the sixth player in NHL history with 25 points before their 10th game in a season. Also achieving the feat —Mario Lemieux (three times, most 33), Mike Bossy (28) Wayne Gretzky (twice; most 27), Brent Sutter (25) and Marcel Dionne (25). With 26 points, McDavid was already more than a quarter of the way to his 10th career 100-point season.
KEY MOMENT
With the Wild serving a too-many-men penalty, Bouchard scored his seventh of the season on a bomb of a shot with 1:28 remaining in overtime. He scored the winner on his 27th birthday.
KEY STAT
Both teams rely heavily on their top lines. The Oilers came into the game with 19 goals from their top trio, while the rest of the team scored 18. The Wild’s top line had combined for 16 goals against 12 for the rest of the team.
UP NEXT
Wild: Play the second game of a five-game road trip in Calgary against the Flames on Thursday.
Oilers: Continue their homestand against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2026.
St. Louis Blues' Jimmy Snuggerud, second from left, skates off the ice after scoring past Winnipeg Jets goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
The 2026-27 Winnipeg Jets are facing some adversity.
They’re without their top defenceman, the Connor Hellebuyck cloud hangs over everything, and now, they’ve lost three games in a row, falling 2-1 in St. Louis Tuesday night to start a short two-game road trip.
In a game of momentum swings, the Blues scored the go-ahead goal with 11 minutes left in the third period and hung on for the victory.
It was the Jets fourth loss in their last five games.
“We have our moments where we’re good,” said Jets forward Cole Perfetti. “We have our moments where we’re not so good. I think, like I kind ofsaid the other day of playing a full 60. That’s a big part of our game. And we have our times. I thought we came out strong in the first 10 (minutes) and they really took it to us. It looked like we kinda got away from our style in the second half of that first period.”
Perfetti scored their only goal in a losing cause.
It was the Jets first regulation loss on the road this season as they went 0-for-3 on the power play.
The Jets had eight of the first nine shots on goal, but the Blues outshot them 11-6 the rest of the opening period.
“It was a funny game in the sense that we were real good for the first 10 (minutes) of the first period,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “They were better in the second part of that. The second period – four penalties or whatever. It just kinda took the flow away, kinda lose your bench a little bit. I thought we were again in the third, got back to doing what we had to do and another penalty. But at the end of the day, it was a different kind of game in the sense the flow to it wasn’t great.”
The loss ended Stuart Skinner’s five-game point streak as he suffered his first regulation loss with the Jets. He made a number of highlight reel stops in his 26-save performance with the Blues scoring the game-winner on the power play after the Jets had killed off their first four penalties.
“We were fantastic on the PK (penalty kill),” said Skinner. “And as you’re really good on the PK, teams tend to change things. So, it’s just a smart play by them kinda spreading us out and getting a good one-time look from the middle. But yeah, tough way to get the loss obviously.”
Skinner felt the Blues first goal was kicked in but the Jets didn’t challenge it because they felt it was too close a call and didn’t think it would be overturned.
“I’m pretty adamant it is (kicking motion),” said Skinner. “Cause when the puck is coming to you and he flips his skate blade cause he’s tied up that’s really good defence on our part. So, I don’t know what else (Dylan) DeMelo is supposed to do. Is he supposed to take his legs out too? But if he does that, we’re in the (penalty) box 5-on-4. So, I think it’s a little too much of a grey zone.”
Mark Scheifele was held without a point to end his five-game point streak. And after scoring in six of their first seven games Kyle Connor has now gone back-to-back games without a goal.
The Jets were getting lots of shots on goal early, but it was St. Louis who opened the scoring with 7:30 to go in the first.
After Skinner made a few big saves, the puck found its way to Philip Broberg at the left point. He sent a pass to Dylan Holloway at the opposite faceoff dot before Holloway put the puck to the middle of the ice where Jimmy Snuggerud used his skate to guide it into an open net.
Skinner had hoped the goal would be waved off but Snuggerud did not appear to use a distinct kicking motion to deflect the puck.
The game stayed 1-0 through the second as well. The Blues failed to cash in on a pair of full power plays and lost a third when they took their own penalty after just 23 seconds.
The Jets got their first legit power play with 1:31 to go in the period and got a good look from Perfetti in front but his backhand went off the helmet of Joel Hofer and over the net.
The Jets began the third with 29 seconds of power play time and just moments after Snuggerud stepped out of the box, Winnipeg tied the game.
The Blues had a chance to clear the puck but were unable to do so as it landed on the stick of Gabriel Vilardi at the left point. He slid the puck through the slot to Perfetti in front of the net, who collected the puck, waited a beat and then slid it through Hofer’s five-hole for his sixth goalof the season.
St. Louis got their fifth power play look of the night when Dylan Samberg was called for tripping at the 8:25 mark and finally the Blues made the Jets pay.
Broberg and Robert Thomas played pitch-and-catch with the puck, waiting for a seam to open up, and when it did, Broberg blasted a pass from Thomas past Skinner at the 8:47 mark.
Winnipeg had a great chance to draw level with a power play look of their own with just over six minutes left but failed to register a shot on goal.
They got a few good opportunities to score with the goalie pulled but could not break through.
Winnipeg outshot the Blues 33-28 for the game as Hofer turned aside 32 shots for the win.
The Jets will try to end their slide in Dallas Thursday night.
Warm textures and timeless accents bring fall’s coziest home décor trends to life.
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If your favourite throw pillows are already in place and your gorgeous Euro wool blankets are scattered happily throughout the living room, there are still plenty of ways to cozy up your space. This season’s fall home décor trends offer easy updates that bring warmth and texture to every corner. And even if your aesthetic leans modern and minimal, a few traditional touches can make an intentionally sparse space feel all the more inviting.
Vintage touches
This aged urn literally just needs three giant branches. Or nothing\–it’s aesthetically pleasing on its own. The perfect addition to any living room space that needs a little zhuzh. [/product_listing]
There is something about a vintage-esque bust (like this David-inspired version) holding utensils in either a modern or classic kitchen that is charming both and whimsical. [/product_listing]
I love oversized pots that are lightweight thanks to fiberstone construction. Move this guy inside or outside, whatever your preference. And try playing with proportions and scale by setting yours somewhere unexpected like atop a low, large coffee tabled stacked with books. [/product_listing]
Candles, galore!
These tapered, conical candles are poured using food-grade paraffin and will drip down to create a luxe, illuminated vignette. And their fall-to-winter tone? Bronze-y perfection. [/product_listing]
Maybe you don’t want the hassle, maybe your strata members have voted *no* to flames–whatever the reason, there’s always a place in my sideboard for a pack of flameless candles with a real waxy finish.[/product_listing]
If you’ve gifted away (or just never owned) any simple serving trays, I like the price point on this modern metallic iteration. Just add a few drips of candle wax and it will feel instantly lived in, plus the simple design will contrast nicely with a smattering of assorted burning sticks. [/product_listing]
Animal accents
These cheeky lil bunny bookends are loaded with charm. Or split yours up and try them as door stoppers! [/product_listing]
Collect the whole crew including a bear, a fox and a giraffe (lol). I heart the idea of a wildlife gallery wall straight out of Alice in Wonderland placed somewhere unexpected like a foyer or powder room.[/product_listing]
While you’re on the animal kick, start stocking up on felt Christmas ornaments now! Mice seem to be owning this space. Love the wheely suitcase, too.[/product_listing]
Feeling like bunnies are too Easter-ish? Add instant Christmas charm with four yards of this tie-able velvet silk red ribbon. [/product_listing]
As Albertans vote “no” to separation, a new poll suggests the Parti Québécois' pledge to hold a sovereignty referendum in 2029 cost the party a majority government. The PQ will instead enter the next legislature with a minority. Some analysts say the poll should give the next premier pause over his commitment to sovereignty, while opponents see an opening to challenge the PQ's referendum agenda. Dan Spector reports.
A new poll suggests the Parti Québécois’ pledge to hold a sovereignty referendum in its first mandate cost the party a majority government as Quebec politicians draw competing lessons from a referendum in Alberta.
The Léger survey for Le Journal de Montréal, conducted after the Oct. 5 election, found the PQ would have received 35 per cent of the vote if it had not promised to hold a referendum.
That is seven percentage points higher than the 28 per cent of the vote the party received in the election and, according to the poll, would have been enough to secure a majority government.
Instead, the PQ will enter the next legislature with a minority government.
“I think seeing this new poll just confirms what many people thought,” said Daniel Béland, political sociologist and director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada.
The same poll found just 20 per cent of respondents favour the PQ organizing a referendum during its first mandate.
“This idea of a third referendum is just not popular. It’s actually very unpopular, and even after this victory of the PQ, there is no change here,” Béland said.
The poll comes as Quebec politicians debate what lessons should be drawn from Monday night’s referendum results in Alberta, where about three-quarters of voters opted for the province to remain in Canada, rejecting a proposal for a future referendum on separation.
Albertans also voted for their province to negotiate changes to the Constitution to secure more powers from the federal government.
Premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said Tuesday the results show cracks in the Canadian federation and suggested provinces could work together to gain more powers from Ottawa.
The PQ leader wrote on social media that Albertans had proven “there is nothing to fear from expressing one’s views through a referendum.”
“The message they are sending to Ottawa could not be clearer: Canada, as it stands, is not working, and the status quo is no longer acceptable,” St-Pierre Plamondon said.
“Like Quebecers, they see the Canadian federation as a straitjacket that prevents them from placing their priorities at the heart of their own public policies, in order to meet their own needs.”
St-Pierre Plamondon said Quebec, under the Coalition Avenir Québec government, had already tried and failed to get more autonomy from Ottawa. He said his predecessors’ approach “only led to rejections and setbacks for Quebec” and accused the federal government of becoming increasingly interventionist.
The PQ leader has promised Quebecers a third referendum on independence after U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the White House.
St-Pierre Plamondon said he sees common cause with Alberta and promised to collaborate with other provinces “that come to the same conclusion as Quebec and Albertans: change is needed.”
But Quebec’s opposition parties said the Alberta results should instead prompt St-Pierre Plamondon to abandon his referendum pledge.
Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime said Quebecers should align themselves with Alberta to secure a balance of power in the federation, but said he does not support secession.
He urged St-Pierre Plamondon to drop his promise to hold a referendum on independence.
Liberal Leader Charles Milliard made the same request, saying the Canadian federation remains the best option for Quebec.
“The results reflect a desire to unite and work to build Canada rather than divide it,” Milliard said. “Canada is the envy of the world.”
The new Quebec poll is also providing ammunition to the Liberals as they prepare to serve as the official Opposition.
Milliard received a warm welcome Tuesday as his party held its first official meeting as a sworn-in caucus.
“We’re going to have a strong official Opposition,” he said.
Liberal MNA Michel Leblanc said Quebecers will see in the coming months and years how central a referendum is to the PQ’s agenda and how it could affect Quebec’s relationship with the rest of Canada.
“Quebecers don’t want a referendum. The PQ wants one, and it will cost them,” Leblanc said.
A minority government typically lasts 18 to 24 months, and the Liberals are already looking ahead to the next election.
“We’ll make sure to be ready for the next rendez-vous électoral,” Milliard said.
Béland said the polling should also give the PQ pause over its commitment to a referendum deadline.
“This poll and other polls should give them pause about emphasizing the referendum with a hard deadline,” he said.
St-Pierre Plamondon is set to officially become premier Wednesday when he and his cabinet are formally sworn into office.
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