CONCERN that the largely French-speaking province of Quebec might soon separate from Canada vanished on April 7th when the separatist Parti Québécois government led by Pauline Marois (pictured) was soundly defeated in a provincial election by the federalist Parti Libéral led by Philippe Couillard. It was a rout. Ms Marois could not even hold her own seat and stepped down as party leader once the results were in. She set two records while in power: the first woman premier of the province and leader of the shortest-lived government in Quebec history. History may yet award her a third title: the woman who presided over the death of the separatist movement. When Ms Marois called the snap election on March 5th, the ruling Parti Québécois looked set to transform the minority government won in September 2012 into a majority. Mr Couillard, a neurosurgeon, was still finding his feet after winning the leadership of the Parti Libéral just over a year ago. The party was still in disarray after being tossed from power under a cloud of suspicion over corruption. But a series of disastrous decisions during an erratic campaign led to the PQ’s defeat.

The most important of these was inviting a media mogul, Pierre Karl Péladeau, to run for the PQ and allowing him to make a strong pledge for independence accompanied by an expressive fist pump at his first public appearance. Although independence is the party’s raison d’être, the government had been soft-pedalling this option for fear that it would frighten away supporters who did not fancy another divisive referendum or the upheaval that would accompany any eventual separation. Ms Marois mused in the dying days of the campaign that she should not have allowed a referendum to become a central issue. By then it was too late. Voters flocked to the Parti Libéral, which is the only Quebec party completely to rule out separation. The Coalition Avenir Québec wants to address economic problems before looking at that option. Québec Solidaire wants to address poverty and inequality first.

Almost as damaging for the government was its proposed charter of values that would prohibit civil servants from wearing overt religious symbols such as a turban or hijab. Initially seen as a vote-winner, at least among its core supporters, Ms Marois admitted during the campaign that workers who did not comply would be fired. That raised the ire of the civil-service unions and religious groups, a formidable combination. The opposition parties might have grudgingly supported the charter had the government agreed to restrict that particular provision to civil servants with coercive powers, such as police and judges. By refusing to compromise and raising the prospect that doctors, nurses and nursery-school teachers might also lose their jobs, the Parti Québécois government managed to appear both intransigent and intolerant.

Ms Marois’s final disastrous calculation was thinking that the allegations of corruption, which brought down a Parti Libéral government in 2012, would still resonate with voters. The spectre of a party with a tainted past did not prove nearly as daunting as a party promising an uncertain future.

Although this message seemed clear enough on election night, the PQ did not appear to hear it. Ms Marois made no apologies and took no responsibility for the referendum talk or the charter. Her only regret, she said, was that she didn’t reinforce the use of French in the workplace while she had the chance. Bernard Drainville, the minister behind the charter, tried to get dispirited party workers to chant: “We want a country!” Mr Péladeau talked of the day when Quebeckers would make their own decisions as a country. And Jean-François Lisée, one of the architects of the party’s strategy, promised the Parti Québécois would survive the next four years and win the next election. The three are all contenders for the leadership post. Quebec voters may have moved on but the PQ, apparently, has not.