Quebec Sets Sovereignty Vote for Autumn : Nationalism: Separatist leader delays referendum as polls show majority back union with Canada.

Quebec voters will decide in a fall referendum whether to break away from the rest of Canada, the province’s separatist premier has announced.

Until recently, Premier Jacques Parizeau appeared to be planning his long-promised referendum for May or June. But with polls consistently showing at least 55% of Quebec voters in favor of continued union with Canada, Parizeau has been under mounting pressure from fellow separatists to put off the vote rather than risk defeat.

Parizeau included the news in a speech to the Chamber of Commerce in Levis, Quebec, across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City, on Wednesday night.

“Barring some unexpected and exceptional event, which can always happen . . . it appears fitting to invite Quebeckers to their moment of truth in the autumn,” Parizeau said. He did not specify a date for the vote, and he uncharacteristically declined to answer reporters’ questions.

The delay would give the separatists time to build support for their cause, although politics is usually off-limits for Quebeckers in the summer, when they prefer to focus on outdoor recreation, vacations and Montreal’s jazz, comedy, theater and film festivals.

Backers of Canadian national unity, confident that they would win a spring referendum, immediately denounced the postponement.

“He chose to delay the referendum when Quebeckers are ready to vote,” said Lucienne Robillard, the federal Cabinet member fronting the pro-unity campaign. “This is not acceptable. Perhaps they’re not ready to vote for separation, but they are ready to vote.”

Parizeau was elected last September on a platform promising a referendum on independence--or sovereignty, as it is usually termed here--within 10 months of the day he took office. Shortly after the election, Parizeau changed the target date to sometime in 1995, but his strategists still hoped for a spring referendum.

In an effort to drive up backing for sovereignty, the government appointed 15 regional commissions and held public hearings throughout the province in February and March. But the plan backfired when the hearings became forums for thousands of voters doubtful of the benefits of independence.

With no groundswell of support materializing, Parizeau’s colleagues began publicly pressing him to put off the vote.

A fall vote would mark Quebec’s second referendum on separation. In 1980, Quebeckers voted 60% to 40% to stay in Canada.

Separatists argue that independence is the best way to preserve Quebec’s French language and unique culture amid its English-speaking surroundings. Canadian federalists contend that French is thriving in the province under the protection of Canada--French speakers account for 82% of Quebec’s 6.8 million residents--and that independence is not worth the economic disruption that would result from dismembering the country.

The country’s prime minister, Jean Chretien, a native Quebecker who is a strong supporter of Canadian federalism, has not said how he would react to an affirmative vote in a referendum, instead expressing confidence that the separatists will again be rejected by voters.