Pur et dur

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Pur et dur (a common expression in French literally meaning "pure and hard") is a term used in Quebec politics to refer to so-called hard-liners of the Parti Québécois and the Quebec independence movement. It is akin to the term "SNP fundamentalist", used in Scotland politics for a faction of the Scottish National Party, another independence party.

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Many of the first purs et durs came from the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale who, through entryism, entered the Parti Québécois in its early days of the 1960s. They are mostly associated with strong opinions about independence (the resolve and haste to attain it, the question of an eventual supranational union, or "souveraineté-association", the question of the "Étapisme" approach) and language protection (see Charter of the French Language). These militants have famously made the leadership of the Parti Québécois a testing task. Former Premier of Quebec and former Parti Québécois leader Jacques Parizeau has sometimes been portrayed as an example of a high-ranking pur et dur.

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These are people having been portrayed by some as purs et durs, while this "status" is debatable.

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