QUEBEC — The Quebec Liberal Party is demanding the leader of the Parti Québécois retract and apologize for his comments linking the Liberals to organized crime or face legal action.
Liberal leader Charles Milliard upped his rebuttal against PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon Sunday by issuing a legal warning letter, known as a mise en demeure, calling on the PQ leader to withdraw the remarks and apologize.
The party gives the PQ leader 72 hours to act.
“Failure to conform to the demands made above, within a maxium of 72 hours of receipt of this notice, will mean the Liberal Party of Quebec reserves the right to take all the appropriate legal recourse against you to validate its rights and to put an end of this attack on its its reputation,” the letter states.
Milliard released the letter at a Montreal news conference accompanied by Liberal Party president Rafael P. Ferraro who is also a lawyer.
“I have no problem with criticism but when people attack our reputation and that of our party and that of our membership, I am not compromising,” Milliard told reporters.
“I prefer the political game to the legal game but not to the detriment of the truth.”
Milliard said in associating the Liberals with organized crime, St-Pierre Plamondon “crossed the line that no serious political leader should.”
“These comments are irresponsible, defamatory and beneath someone who aspires to govern Quebec,” Milliard said. “This time this will not pass.”
He added St-Pierre Plamondon’s comments are “completely unfounded,” because he did not provide a shred of proof linking the party to organized crime.
The incident was sparked Friday during the end of session news conferences held by all the leaders as the house recessed for the summer.
At his news conference, held in the hall of the legislature, St-Pierre Plamondon included the allegation in his presentation of his party’s performance.
He made the comments outside the red room of the legislature which means he is not covered by the rules of parliaementary immunity.
Honing in on recent ethical problems linked to the Liberal leadership campaign, St-Pierre Plamondon said until the party cleans house it is not fit to govern.
“They (the Liberals) did financing that is apparently illicit and they are activities that involved dozens of people,” St-Pierre Plamondon said in reference to an organizer allegedly compensating supporters for donations to the Pablo Rodriguez leadership campaign.
The allegations are part of an investigation being conducted by Quebec’s anti-corruption unit, UPAC.
“There have been links that have been made with a federal MP. Are there links with organized crime? What we know for certain is that there was a financing event to create an occult bank.”
Asked to elaborate on the comment, St-Pierre Plamondon defended himself.
“I am not a UPAC investigator but I know when UPAC investigates it’s because it suspects criminal activities,” he said.
Furious, the Liberals demaned a retraction which did not follow. Sunday they turned to the courts.
“Under my leadership, transparency and accountability will be the orders of the day,” Milliard said Sunday. “I will never allow anyone to tarnish the reputation of the Liberal Party of Quebec.”
He also criticized what he said was St-Pierre Plamondon’s “authoritarian style,” accusing him of intellectual arrogance and of being “allergic to criticism.”
But St-Pierre Plamondon is showing no signs of back peddling.
Even before the Liberal news conference, St-Pierre Plamondon said on social media he was sticking to his statement.
J’ai pris acte à travers les médias de la volonté de Charles Milliard de me poursuivre pour avoir posé des questions légitimes sur la provenance des dons qui ont servi à faire du financement illicite lors de la course à la chefferie 2025 du PLQ. Nous en sommes à la 4e mise en… pic.twitter.com/tibD8S0dhs
— Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (@PaulPlamondon) June 14, 2026
“I have consulted my lawyers and I have no intention of retracting myself,” St-Pierre Plamondon said. “I asked questions on the non-resolved origin of funds used in an illegal financing strategy.
“I made this assertion in the form of a question, a perfectly plausible hypothesis in the light of recent Liberal fundraising practices. I intend to maintain my right to ask pertinent and plausible questions within the framework of my work at the National Assembly.”