In the concession speech given by Parti Québécois Premier Jacques Parizeau after narrowly losing 50.58% to 49.42% in the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, he blamed the defeat on l'argent puis des votes ethniques. This was translated in English speaking media as "money and the ethnic vote", whereas a correct translation would have been "money and ethnic votes", as he had used des and not les.

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  • In the concession speech given by Parti Québécois Premier Jacques Parizeau after narrowly losing 50.58% to 49.42% in the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, he blamed the defeat on l'argent puis des votes ethniques. This was translated in English speaking media as "money and the ethnic vote", whereas a correct translation would have been "money and ethnic votes", as he had used des and not les. Parizeau was referring to two controversies - the quick granting of Canadian citizenship to thousands of new voters, and the large amount of money spent on the "No" campaign. English-language media in Canada, also widely reported that Parizeau had called on Quebec sovereignists to adopt a strategy of gearing their efforts only towards white French-speaking Quebecers in future referendum campaigns, when in fact what he said was to stop talking about us the francophones and instead talk about us, the 60% who voted for . The media-storm meant that Parizeau practically "committed political suicide" and resigned as premier the next day. The former premier never apologized for his statement, which caused some to accuse the separatist movement of being racist.
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  • In the concession speech given by Parti Québécois Premier Jacques Parizeau after narrowly losing 50.58% to 49.42% in the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, he blamed the defeat on l'argent puis des votes ethniques. This was translated in English speaking media as "money and the ethnic vote", whereas a correct translation would have been "money and ethnic votes", as he had used des and not les.
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  • Money and the ethnic vote
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