Quebec Calls Vote; Separatists Lead Polls : Canada: The Parti Quebecois has pledged to move toward secession if it wins the Sept. 12 election.

Quebec Premier Daniel Johnson on Sunday set a Sept. 12 date for a provincial election that could bring to power a party dedicated to separating the French-speaking province from the rest of Canada.

The separatist Parti Quebecois, leading Johnson’s Liberal Party in the polls by seven to 10 points, has said that if it won the election, the provincial Parliament would declare its intention to break from Canada and submit the question of independence to Quebec voters “as quickly as possible.” Party leader Jacques Parizeau has promised a referendum within 10 months of taking office.

The PQ contends that an affirmative vote in a referendum would make Quebec a sovereign nation, but so far Canada’s prime minister, Jean Chretien, has refused to say how the Canadian government would respond to such a vote.

In addition to the PQ’s separatist agenda, Parizeau is focusing his campaign on promises to improve the economy.

Polls show that economic issues are foremost for Quebec voters. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Quebec was 11.8% in June, and in Montreal, the province’s largest city, the rate was 12.4%. Also running in Parizeau’s favor is voter exhaustion with the Liberals, who have held power for nine years.

But there remains a great deal of hesitation about Quebec independence, even among those willing to vote for the PQ, polls show.

Mindful of this, Johnson is trying to turn the PQ’s separatist promises against the party.

“The people of Quebec will have to choose their destiny,” Johnson said Sunday in Quebec City, the provincial capital. Last week, he had accused the PQ of “attempting to hoodwink Quebec voters into thinking there’ll be another chance . . . to say no (to independence). But there shouldn’t be two chances. . . . At the next election we should tell the PQ no.”

Parizeau told reporters Sunday that Quebec needs to achieve sovereignty so that it will have “all instruments at our disposal” to improve the economy.

The Liberals may try to contrast Johnson favorably against Parizeau.

Johnson, 49, is the son of one Quebec premier and the brother of another. He became premier in January, succeeding Robert Bourassa, who resigned because of poor health. With a law degree, a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard, a business career and two economic ministries behind him, he has been criticized as a dry and colorless technocrat. Of late, however, he has worked to improve that image and generally gets better marks now.

Parizeau, 63, comes from a wealthy Montreal family and has a doctorate from the London School of Economics. A former professor at the University of Montreal, he is admired as a brilliant thinker but never has connected with the average voter. He often is described as aloof or arrogant and has a tendency to put his foot in his mouth.

“Parizeau is a drag on the PQ and the best thing the Liberals have going for them,” said Bernard Roy, a Montreal lawyer who was chief of staff for former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. “The Liberal campaign . . . will try to show he’s a loose cannon who has a huge ego, doesn’t tolerate dissent, is a bit of a despot in a way.”

Chretien is less popular in his native Quebec than in the rest of Canada and is not expected to campaign for fellow Liberal Johnson. But he can try to help out indirectly.

For example, Chretien orchestrated a nationally televised ceremony in which he and all 12 provincial and territorial premiers signed an agreement lowering trade barriers between the provinces. The pact was frankly arranged as a demonstration of national unity and cooperation intended to boost Johnson’s reelection chances.