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ST-HYACINTHE — The train to Quebec independence will leave the station Oct. 1 with the election of the Parti Québécois, says party leader Jean-François Lisée.

Unfazed by a devastating new poll showing the PQ has sunk 19 percentage points behind the soaring Coalition Avenir Québec, Lisée insisted his strategy, which is to tell Quebecers the other parties represent a threat to their public services, is a winner in the long run.

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That’s because that same poll shows two-thirds of Quebecers prefer the government invest in health, education, children and senior services over the tax cuts the Liberals and CAQ are pushing to win votes and that’s what the PQ will talk about in the election.

“We want a strong state at the service of the people,” Lisée said in a speech to 500 members opening a two-day meeting of the PQ’s governing national council.

And he held out a carrot for hardline sovereignty buffs: that same strong state is a key ingredient for the PQ’s ultimate push to independence in a referendum to be held in a theoretical second mandate.