The BQ was teetering but had the same support right up to the 2011 election.  
 They were decimated in Harper's third term.  Separatist support rallied around the NDP.  This was the election of the Harper majority that did not require the support of Quebec to govern.  This was the eye opener for Quebec.  They chose not to participate in governance, and instead chose to be in opposition.  Their choice to make. The PQ were elected into minority governance in 2012 and it quickly began to crumble and was gone during Harper's last term.  This all took place when the Harper government stepped back and did not interfere. Nation within a nation.
 
And yes, the NDP briefly benefitted from these conditions.  Sadly for Quebecers, the messiah they supported had cancer and was dead shortly after the 2011 election.  

This all happened in the nine years of Quebec's peaceful coexistance with Canada under Harper.  Was it wilfilly ignorant of the editorialist to completely ignore this era?  Yes.