The Parti Québécois (PQ) currently leads provincial polls ahead of the next election, reviving the prospect of a third sovereignty referendum under its leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. Yet actual support for voting “Yes” remains strikingly low, with recent surveys showing it at around 30%, while clear majorities continue to oppose separation.

Joey Aubé, a podcaster on the Yan et Frank show who identifies himself as economically right-wing and philosophically committed to independence, offered a sharp, skeptical take. He attributed the PQ’s polling strength not to surging sovereigntist fervor but to widespread disillusionment with Premier François Legault and the CAQ.

“For almost three years now, the PQ has been kind of a vote refuge for many Quebec electors, mainly like a parking spot because of the really down in the polls and the CAQ,” he said. “It seems to be much of a grudge like anti-Legault vote.”

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Many voters, Aubé argued, plan to use the PQ to oust Legault but reject its core promise: “Their main logic is, yeah, we’ll vote for him to get rid of Legault and govern Quebec, but if he pulls up his referendum on sovereignty, we’ll just vote against it.” He warned of the long-term damage of a third rejection: “There’s consequences by saying no a third time… there’s been like a scar that never truly healed for us after that time. And now it’s like opening the scars all over again.”

While Aubé believes “the ultimate expression of freedom, of liberty… is the emancipation of one’s people to independence,” he strongly criticizes the PQ’s current strategy and claimed “coalition.” He pointed to candidate Alex Boissonneault — a former far-left activist who once defended Hugo Chávez and praised Fidel Castro — as emblematic of the problem: “He said he’s changed… but every time you heard him speak, he always has this kind of left-leaning tangent about him.”

Comparing Quebec’s situation to Alberta’s independence push, Aubé highlighted a perceived double standard. Alberta separatists are branded “extremists” and accused of foreign interference — “that’s the Freedom Convoy method right there,” he said — while Quebec’s movement faces less hostility.

He noted Alberta’s economic leverage — “Alberta is the money machine of the country. Alberta leaves, Canada is pretty much done”— contrasts with Quebec’s more cultural motivations.

Aubé described today’s electorate as living in “50 shades of gray,” distrustful of the entire political class and fearful that independence might deliver “freedom for the Quebec government to do now everything they want” rather than true individual liberty.

Citing economist Vincent Geloso, he suggested sovereignty could force even a left-leaning government into “Javier Milei style — chainsaw Afuera — kind of style cuts” toward decentralization and a liberalized economy, but only if voters are willing to take the risk.