In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects, by 60% of the vote, a government proposal to move towards independence from Canada.
The 1980 Quebec independence referendum was the first referendum in Quebec on the place of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward sovereignty. The referendum was called by Quebec's Parti Québécois (PQ) government, which advocated secession from Canada.
The province-wide referendum took place on May 20, and the proposal to pursue secession was defeated by a 59.56 percent to 40.44 percent margin.A second referendum on sovereignty, which was held in 1995, also rejected pursuing secession, albeit by a much smaller margin (50.58% to 49.42%).