full independence or greater autonomy for the province within Canada. Asked if a vote for sovereignty still meant that they wanted Quebec to be part of Canada, 56 percent of respondents said yes and 40 percent said no, the Globe said. Officials with Quebec's separatist Parti Quebecois, which formed the provincial government at the time of the last referendum, have said they had been prepared to declare Quebec independent if they had won the 1995 vote. In 2000, the federal government passed legislation that said any future referendum on Quebec sovereignty had to be based on a clear question and that a vote for separatism required a clear -- but unspecified -- majority. Almost half -- 49 per cent of voters -- said they believed Quebec would one day become a separate country while 41 percent said it would not. Leger surveyed 1,008 people in Quebec between April 24 and 27 and its poll is considered to be accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. It said the last time support for sovereignty hit 54 percent was in October 1998. Quebec was then weeks away from a provincial election, which was won by Parti Quebecois. Previous polls over the last year put support for sovereignty at between 44 percent and 49 percent.
