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LONGUEUIL, Que. — When Sol Zanetti took the microphone at Quebec solidaire’s recent political convention, he put his fist in the air and told the roughly 600 assembled party members that Quebec shouldn’t have to submit to the “illegitimate” Canadian constitution.

Zanetti, one of 10 elected members of the provincial party, said the foundational document of the Canadian state was created by a “gang of rich white men — no First Nations, no women, no poor people.”

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Instead of applause, his stirring comments were largely met with silence — not because the crowd didn’t agree but because members of the left-leaning, separatist party prefer to show appreciation by waving their hands silently in the air. The gesture, known as “jazz hands,” is meant to avoid alarming those sensitive to loud, sudden noise.

The 37-year-old Zanetti and the rest of his party might seem fringe to many Canadians, but the party’s support has grown in every provincial election since its 2006 creation. While its political platform is radical, and its ranks include anti-capitalists and Marxists, party leaders are politically savvy, strategic, and unafraid to go for the jugular.