The party supporting independence in Quebec assumed that the French-speaking audience was already constituted rhetorically, that they already had an identity and ideology, that of the "peuple Quebecois," and developed its arguments from that assumption. Although the referendum on Quebec independence ultimately failed, the party rose to power, won control of the government, and built up substantial support for the referendum based on this adroit assumption about the prepersuasive situation.
Source: wiktionary