Editing Jean Chrétien (section)

==== 1995 Quebec referendum ====

{{main|1995 Quebec referendum}}

One of Chrétien's main concerns in office was separation of the province of Quebec, which was governed by the [[Quebec sovereignty movement|sovereigntist]] [[Parti Québécois]] for nearly the entirety of his term. When the [[1995 Quebec referendum|1995 Quebec independence referendum]] began in September, Chrétien was relaxed and confident of victory as polls showed federalist forces were leading by a wide margin.<ref>Jeffrey, Brooke ''Divided Loyalties'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010, p. 278.</ref> On October 8, 1995, [[Lucien Bouchard]] replaced the separatist [[premier of Quebec]], [[Jacques Parizeau]], as the ''de facto'' chair of the ''oui'' committee and, at that point, the support for the {{Lang|fr|oui}} side started to dramatically increase, aided by the {{Lang|fr|non}} committee's complacency.<ref name="Jeffrey, Brooke 2010, pp. 278-279">Jeffrey, Brooke ''Divided Loyalties'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010, pp. 278–279.</ref> In the weeks leading to the referendum on October 30, 1995, the federal government was seized with fear and panic as polls showing that, under the leadership of Bouchard, the ''oui'' side was going to win.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man'', Toronto: Viking, 2003 pp. 126–128.</ref> On October 30, 1995, the federalist ''non'' side won by the narrowest of margins, with 50.58%.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-05-17 |title=1995 referendum on Québec’s accession to sovereignty |url=https://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/en/results-and-statistics/1995-referendum-on-quebecs-accession-to-sovereignty/#anchor2 |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=Élections Québec |language=en-CA}}</ref>