During the 1995 referendum he caused an uproar when it was reported by columnist Chantal Hébert in the "La Presse" newspaper that despite the guarantee of an offer of partnership with the rest of Canada before declaring sovereignty following a "Yes" vote, Parizeau had told a group of foreign diplomats that what mattered most was to get a majority vote from Quebec citizens for the proposal to secede from Canada because with that, Quebecers would be in a "lobster pot," evidently indicating that like lobsters in a lobster trap, Quebecers would not be able to escape the consequences of a vote for independence once it was cast. The "Yes" side would lose the referendum by 55,000 votes. In his concession speech, Parizeau said sovereignty had been defeated by "l'argent et des votes ethniques" ("money and ethnic votes"), and referred to the Francophones who voted Yes in the referendum as ""nous"" (us) when he said that this majority group was, for the first time, no longer afraid of political independence.