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Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, shown in the town of Lanoraie on Tuesday, said the federal Liberals ignored the requests of the Quebec government until the eve of the provincial election, set for Oct. 5.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
The leader of the Parti Québécois is accusing the federal government of interfering in the Quebec election campaign to benefit his main adversary.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon pointed Friday to a series of recent announcements made by Prime Minister Mark Carney alongside Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette. He said the federal Liberals have ignored the requests of the Quebec government until the eve of the provincial election, which is scheduled for Oct. 5.
“I think we should be concerned about the possibility that this could be the greatest federal interference in our affairs and our election since 1995,” he told reporters in response to questions at a press conference in Chibougamau in northern Quebec, referring to the province’s last independence referendum.
The comments come as the governing Coalition Avenir Québec, led by Ms. Fréchette, has made an unlikely comeback amid the ongoing fallout from the trade war with the United States.
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Accompanied by Ms. Frechette, Mr. Carney announces a $11-billion contract for icebreakers at the Davie shipyard in Levis, Que., on Aug. 24.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
Before Ms. Fréchette took over the party in April, the CAQ had collapsed in the polls and was projected to lose most or all of its seats in the upcoming election. Since then she has positioned herself as a steady hand at the wheel in a time of crisis, and as someone who can work with Ottawa. Her leadership has drawn comparisons to Mr. Carney’s revival of the federal Liberals last year.
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, meanwhile, has worked to shift the focus of the campaign off his promise to hold another sovereignty referendum in a first mandate. His party has led in the polls for the better part of three years, but support for independence in Quebec is low, hovering around 30 per cent.
He recently promised not to hold a referendum while U.S. President Donald Trump is in office.
Mr. Carney has made several recent announcements alongside Ms. Fréchette. Last month, they were both in St. John’s to unveil a new energy deal between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. Soon after, he announced an $11-billion contract with Quebec’s Davie shipyard to build icebreakers.
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon said the “love-in” for Quebec marks a change from Ottawa’s previously dismissive attitude to the CAQ government, which was first elected in 2018. He said Quebeckers should not “turn a blind eye” to “the federal government’s sudden interest in issues that had been stalled for eight years.”
Ms. Fréchette rejected the PQ Leader’s claims, saying there is “absolutely no” federal interference in the Quebec election. “We form partnerships with the federal government when it is in Quebec’s interest,” she said. “We don’t just go looking for trouble and conflict in Ottawa, the way the Parti Québécois does.”
The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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The Prime Minister remains very popular in Quebec. Earlier this week, the Liberals easily won a by-election in the province’s Saguenay region, taking more than 50 per cent of the vote in what was expected to be a tight race with the Bloc Québécois.
Jack Jedwab, president of the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies, a non-profit think tank, said any comparison with federal involvement in the 1995 referendum is “laughable.”
Mr. Jedwab said Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon is trying to “lean into the friction with the federal government” as a tactic to gain momentum and defend his narrow polling lead.
“This is sort of a Hail Mary,” he said.
With reports from The Canadian Press