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The Three Periods

The Three Periods is a Quebec sovereigntist strategy. Before the 1993 federal election in Canada, Parti Québécois (PQ) leader Jacques Parizeau evoked a strategy for attainment of Quebec independence called the Three Periods. The strategy is partly inspired by the three periods of play in hockey (the most popular sport in Quebec). It is seen as a typical Parizeau concept: dedicated and straightforward, especially compared to some sovereignist attitudes like a few (not all) of René Lévesque's (specifically in the last years of his government) or to the "Étapisme" strategy.

The Three Periods Strategy

First period

• The election of a great number of candidates from the recently founded Bloc Québécois in Ottawa for 1993 Canadian election.
  • It was achieved: the Bloc sent 54 MP's to the Canadian House of Commons and seized the Official Opposition. Parizeau and the PQ publicly supported the Bloc's campaign.

Second period

• The election of a Parti Québécois government in Quebec City for the 1994 Quebec election.
  • It was achieved: the PQ sent 77 MP's to the National Assembly of Quebec, won a majority government and received a majority (although slimer than expected) in popular vote.

Third period

• The calling and victory of a second referendum on sovereignty for Quebec.
  • It was partly achieved, but not entirely. The referendum was indeed called in 1995. After some polls suggesting a repeat of the 1980 referendum score of about 40%, the result was of 49.42%, a near-victory but nonetheless spelling defeat. Some would call it a moral victory while other would focus on the defeat. This great rise of support for the cause over 15 years and the razor-thin difference of percentage inscribed a gain in the stone of history forever but, also, a second lost referendum seemed harder to take and it has seen the subsequent second Post-Referendum Syndrome demoralization occur with Sovreignists and Quebecers for the next few years.

Resurgence

After the skyplummetting popularity of the newly elected federalist Quebec government in 2003-2004, the sponsorship scandal, the Bloc's renewed popularity for the 2004 federal elections and the rise in support for sovereignty (49% in April 2004), some militants evoked the return of a new three part plan. Pauline Marois even wrote an article for the Saison des idées in 2004 in favour of establishing a four period plan.

See also

• Sovereigntist events and strategies
• Politics of Quebec
• History of Quebec
• Timeline of Quebec history
• List of Quebec general elections
• History of the Quebec sovereignist movement