Referendum or popular consultation

Quebec referendum, 1995

Voters rejected sovereignty with a partnership offer to Canada by 50.58% to 49.42%, on a turnout of 93.52%.

The vote

Jurisdiction
Quebec
Organising authority
Directeur général des élections du Québec, under the Referendum Act
Legal character
ConsultativeConsultative under the Referendum Act.[1] The question tied sovereignty to a prior partnership offer; later federal law treats questions of this kind differently (see the Clarity Act).[2]
Geographical scope
Quebec
Question on the ballot
“Acceptez-vous que le Québec devienne souverain, après avoir offert formellement au Canada un nouveau partenariat économique et politique, dans le cadre du projet de loi sur l’avenir du Québec et de l’entente signée le 12 juin 1995?”
“Do you agree that Québec should become sovereign, after having made a formal offer to Canada for a new Economic and Political Partnership, within the scope of the Bill respecting the future of Québec and of the agreement signed on June 12, 1995?”

English translation: official.

Reported results[3][4][1]. Percentages: share of valid votes.
OptionVotesOfficial %Calculated %
Yes (sovereignty after a partnership offer) 2,308,360 49.42% 49.42%
No 2,362,648 50.58% 50.58%
Valid votes
4,671,008
Invalid votes
86,501
Blank votes
Not reported
Total ballots cast
4,757,509
Registered electorate
5,087,009
Turnout
93.52%official figure

Option percentages are shares of valid ballots; turnout is all votes cast as a share of registered electors.

Assessments of the vote

A declared result and an assessment of the vote’s legal effect or legitimacy are different claims. Each is attributed.

  • First Nations chiefs in Quebec (declaration of 4 October 1995) · Governmental assessment

    Declared that their peoples and territories would not be bound by the result.[5]

What happened

The Parti Québécois, elected in September 1994, had promised a referendum within a year.[6] The question asked whether Quebec should become sovereign after formally offering Canada a new economic and political partnership.[3]

First Nations chiefs declared that their peoples would not be bound by the result, and the James Bay Cree, the Inuit and the Innu held their own votes in which majorities rejected the sovereignty project as it affected them.[5][7] On 30 October No won by 54,288 votes.[4]

Sources for this page

Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.

  1. 1.

    Claim: Quebec referendums are consultative and have been governed since 1978 by the Referendum Act.

    • Élections Québec, Référendums (Élections Québec) link, page text. Source record
  2. 2.

    Claim: The Clarity Act requires the House of Commons to decide within thirty days whether a provincial secession question is clear, and says a question focused only on a mandate to negotiate, or envisaging economic or political arrangements with Canada that obscure a direct choice, would not produce a clear expression of will.

    • An Act to give effect to the requirement for clarity as set out in the opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Quebec Secession Reference (Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada, 29 June 2000) link, s. 1(1), (3) and (4). Source record
  3. 3.

    Claim: The 1995 question asked whether Quebec should become sovereign after formally offering Canada a new economic and political partnership, within the scope of the bill respecting the future of Quebec and the agreement signed on 12 June 1995.

    • Directeur général des élections du Québec, La consultation populaire au Canada et au Québec (Directeur général des élections du Québec), ISBN 2550354249 link, p. 50. Source record
  4. 4.

    Claim: On 30 October 1995 No won 2,362,648 votes (50.58%) and Yes 2,308,360 (49.42%), a margin of 54,288, on a turnout of 93.52%.

    • Directeur général des élections du Québec, La consultation populaire au Canada et au Québec (Directeur général des élections du Québec), ISBN 2550354249 link, p. 56. Source record
  5. 5.

    Claim: On 4 October 1995 about twenty First Nations chiefs in Quebec declared that they respected Quebecers’ right to a referendum but that their peoples and territories would not be bound by the result.

    • Directeur général des élections du Québec, La consultation populaire au Canada et au Québec (Directeur général des élections du Québec), ISBN 2550354249 link, p. 49. Source record
  6. 6.

    Claim: After winning the general election of 12 September 1994, the Parti Québécois promised a referendum on Quebec’s constitutional future within its first year.

    • Directeur général des élections du Québec, La consultation populaire au Canada et au Québec (Directeur général des élections du Québec), ISBN 2550354249 link, p. 49. Source record
  7. 7.

    Claim: In their own votes, the James Bay Cree (24 October) rejected being separated from Canada in the event of a Yes, the Inuit (26 October) voted against Quebec becoming sovereign, and a majority of the Innu (Montagnais, 26 October) voted against association with an independent Quebec.

    • Directeur général des élections du Québec, La consultation populaire au Canada et au Québec (Directeur général des élections du Québec), ISBN 2550354249 link, pp. 49–50. Source record

Source note

Show in the notes list