“One thing is certain,” stated Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon last Sunday. “Our moment will arrive sooner than we think, meaning not at some long-term idealized date, but in a few years — before the end of the decade. We will indeed experience a third referendum.”

A couple of years ago, such an assertion would have been met with indifference and smiles amongst observers of Quebec’s political scene. Not anymore: a third referendum on the province’s separation is now a distinct possibility, and Plamondon has a lot to do with this new state of affairs.