New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair said Tuesday night's win by the separatist Parti Quebecois will change politics in the province, but is unlikely to lead to a referendum on sovereignty.
Mulcair was speaking at the NDP's annual summer caucus, being held in St. John's, N.L.
He said the PQ's minority status makes it unlikely premier-elect Pauline Marois will be able to fulfill her promise of a referendum.
"It's a very short minority and I don't think anybody is going to be rattling that one very soon," Mulcair said outside the NDP's annual summer caucus retreat.
In fact, Mulcair said, the PQ's minority status means Marois will be hamstrung in many of her more grandiose objectives, such as wrestling control of Employment Insurance away from the federal government, and making it a provincial responsibility.
Mulcair suggested Marois and the PQ will be too busy trying to run the province to tackle such big projects.
"I don't see that as being in the cards right now," he said.
"With the shortened minority that's been granted to the Parti Quebecois, we're going to probably see a minority government trying to govern the province in the public interest, much more than going for the brass ring of other big constitutional changes."
Mulcair also said Wednesday he is willing to work with Marois on "issues of common interests."
The NDP caucus meeting is being held in St. John's Wednesday and Thursday, with MPs using the opportunity to plot their strategy going into the fall session of Parliament, which begins on Sept. 17.
Heading into the meetings Tuesday morning, however, Mulcair and other New Democrats had little to say about political planning and instead expressed shock and horror at the shooting that followed Tuesday night's Quebec election, leaving one dead and one injured.
"We're obviously all in a state of shock following what happened last night in Montreal after the election results," Mulcair told reporters as he made his way into the party's annual summer caucus retreat.
"Our thoughts are with the victims and their families and those close to them and we're just going to allow the police to continue to do their work."
Once the meetings began, Mulcair was expected to focus on the Quebec election and what it means for his party, said CTV parliamentary correspondent Roger Smith.
"For Mulcair, the challenge will be to support some of the demands Quebec is making short of separatism, walking a fine line between listening to his Quebec caucus and not offending MPs from outside Quebec if it looks like the NDP is doing too much to speak up for Quebec," Smith told CTV's Canada AM.
The NDP achieved its best-ever election result last year and became the Official Opposition under the leadership of Jack Layton, largely due to a strong showing in Quebec. The NDP's so-called "Orange Crush" in the province led to the election of 59 MPs in Quebec as the Bloc Quebecois collapsed.
