Quebec has voted twice against independence, but the question has never been settled or gone away. On a recent summer's evening, along streets lined with onlookers waving the blue and white fleur-de-lis flag rather than the Canadian maple leaf, a parade was staged in Quebec City retelling the story of the settlement of New France.

The Canadian province of Quebec has twice held independence referendums, in 1980 and 1995, with the no vote prevailing – just. How does their experience inform the Scotland debate?

The article discusses the defeat of the Parti Québécois (PQ) by the Liberal Party of Québec in the April 2014 election in Québec, Canada, focusing on analysis of the decline in public support of the PQ's policy of Quebec sovereignty. Topics include the strategies of PQ leader Pauline Marois and Liberal leader Philippe Couillard, economic factors in the election, and the separatist stance of PQ candidate Pierre Karl Péladeau.

The question of Québec's status as a nation has long been the subject of debate. Ever since Canadian Confederation in 1867, Québec's political future and its place within Canada have been discussed over and over, with French-Canadian and English-Canadian nationalists having different visions of the country. Proposals for Québec independence have emerged from time to time, but it was not until the 1960s that the idea took hold beyond intellectual circles.