Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe stirred up skepticism Friday in Washington as he declared the end of the “Canadian dream” with Quebec moving “quite quickly” toward becoming a sovereign country that would put the U.S. at the heart of its foreign policy.

In a prepared speech to an audience of a few dozen people from a pair of influential U.S. public-policy think-tanks, Duceppe predicted the defeat of the pro-Canada government of Liberal Premier Jean Charest, opening the door for a Pauline Marois-led Parti Quebecois regime with a “core objective” of separating from Canada.

“One thing is certain: Our relationship with the U.S. would be the focal point of a sovereign Quebec’s foreign policy,” Duceppe said at the event co-hosted by the Canadian Institute of the U.S.-government-funded Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Hudson Institute.

“The United States already has a very solid ally in Canada. Should Quebec become a sovereign state, the U.S. would have two very solid allies for the price of one.”

The trip is part of a Bloc campaign promoting awareness of the demise of the Meech Lake constitutional accord in 1990 that led to Duceppe’s election in the same year as the party’s first representative in Ottawa.

David Biette, director of the Canadian Institute, said that the crowd knew that Quebec “makes Canada interesting” and recognized Duceppe is an important political leader, but they don’t expect the U.S. government to do any favours for the sovereigntists.

“If the United States is going to have to make a choice between Canada and Quebec, I think the answer is pretty obvious,” Biette told Postmedia News. “I don’t think the United States would like to be put in that position and the American government will do anything it can to avoid being put in that position.”

he was “counting on the United States to be a decisive player” that would “push for negotiations and a quick and orderly resolution” following a referendum victory by the sovereigntists.

“It will be in everyone’s interest to resolve this political situation quickly and smoothly,” Duceppe said. “A sovereign Quebec will be a win-win outcome for Quebecers, Canada, the U.S. and the world for everyone except those who are nostalgic for a Canadian dream that no longer exists in reality.”

Duceppe has sent out 1,600 letters to decision-makers and elected officials from around the world urging them to prepare for a sovereign Quebec, which he believes is inevitable since no federalist leader in Canada is prepared to make the province a concrete offer to sign on to the Constitution.

He noted the failure of constitutional talks in the 1990s led to an extremely close vote in a 1995 referendum on sovereignty in which the federalists barely managed to get more than 50 per cent of the vote, following a much stronger referendum victory for the No side in 1980.

Meanwhile, Duceppe said the low approval ratings of Charest, now in his third mandate, indicate the premier’s departure is imminent leading up to the next election, which must be called before 2013.