A FOURTH COUNTRY IN NORTH AMERICA? PROBABLY NOT

A party pledged to separatism won a majority of the seats in Quebec's provincial election last night, for the first time in nearly a decade. The Parti Quebecois, led by Jacques Parizeau, won 45 percent of the popular vote and captured 77 of the 125 seats in the Quebec legislature. But the size of the win was a major disappointment for the PQ loyalists; opinion polls taken before the election had indicated the reigning Liberal Party would be trounced by a much larger margin. The lukewarn endorsement of Parizeau's party indicates that Quebec residents are not ready to jump the Canadian ship. The party has pledged to hold a referendum on independence within a year, but sentiment among voters is running strongly against such a move.