MONTREAL--Groups struggling to turn Quebec into a separate country say it's time to stop being afraid of the word independence.

Former Parti Quebecois premier Bernard Landry is at the forefront of what he calls an essential bid to unite sovereignist movements and parties.

The New Movement for Quebec (NMQ) will hold a convention at the end of May. This 'Convergence Nationale' meeting will attempt to unite members of all the pro-independence groups in Quebec and get them to rally behind one party and one cause.

Over the past several years many pundits have proclaimed the independence movement to be at death's door, pointing to the wholesale rejection of the Bloc Quebecois in the May 2011 election as a key moment, followed by the Parti Quebecois's poor showing in the 2012 election: 32 per cent of popular support, more than 3 per cent more than in the previous election, and not enough to form a majority government.

However Landry points to the voters who supported the PQ, along with the 8 percent who supported Quebec Solidaire and Option Nationale, as a sign that the separation movement is still strong.

"It's not as low as some are thinking," said Landry.

"If you make an addition of all the independentist votes at the last election, you are about the level we were six months before the referendum of '95."

Landry said that if vote-splitting continues the separatist movement will never succeed.

"It's time to co-ordinate the efforts to get the results," said Landry.

Political analysts say the only way that will happen is if some parties merge, and Option Nationale leader Jean-Martin Aussant, who created the party after abandoning the PQ, said he is open to joining with Quebec Solidaire.

"[There have been] no clear or formal meetings between parties but it has to take place," said Aussant.

Quebec Solidaire president Andre Frappier agrees.

"The kind of Quebec we want to build for tomorrow is the Quebec for everybody, not only for people who consider themselves sovereignists... We have to discuss more deeply about social issues."

During the next six weeks the NMQ will promote a video and social media campaign, calling on the three mainstream separatist parties, as well as smaller fringe groups, to put aside their differences and rally around one candidate in each riding.

However there are signs that support for an independent Quebec is nowhere near as strong as Landry suggests.

A CROP poll taken at the end of August 2012, less than one week before an election, showed support for sovereignty was at an all-time low.

Polls since then have showed support dropping lower, with a Leger Marketing poll in February 2013, showing just 37 percent of Quebecers favour the idea.

Even in Saguenay-Lac St. Jean, long considered the heart of the separation movement, more than half of those polled in January opposed the idea of an independent Quebec.