{"id":288023,"date":"2025-11-17T03:13:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T03:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/288023\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T03:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T03:13:08","slug":"quebec-liberals-denounce-pq-leaders-independent-currency-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/288023\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec Liberals denounce PQ leader\u2019s independent currency plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon with his wife in Sherbrooke, Que., this weekend. PQ has been soaring in the polls while Fran\u00e7ois Legault\u2019s CAQ government struggles.Thomas Laberge\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon rallied his party faithful Sunday, less than a year from the next provincial election and with a number of important tests to come before then.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the right, but above all, we have the duty to build a different Quebec than the Quebec of decline,\u201d St-Pierre Plamondon told several hundred gathered in Sherbrooke, Que.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Quebec of decline that has been imposed on us by the federal government, the CAQ (Coalition Avenir Quebec), and the Quebec Liberal party for several years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

St-Pierre Plamondon insists that he will hold a sovereignty referendum during his first term if elected to government, even though a majority of Quebeckers are opposed to independence.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the PQ leader announced that an independent Quebec would have its own currency. It would be a slow transition from the Canadian dollar that could take up to 10 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Opinion: There are divisions in every part of the country. Is Canada at the breaking point?<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberta and Quebec find common ground in opposing Ottawa<\/a><\/p>\n

The currency option is the latest chapter from the PQ\u2019s Blue Book, which outlines what an independent Quebec would look like and which the party has been slowly rolling out in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

The Quebec Liberals wasted no time in denouncing the money plan.<\/p>\n

Liberal Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Beauchemin urged the PQ to stop \u201ctalking nonsense,\u201d noting that separating from Canada would cut Quebec out of its current economic agreements and would be \u201ccreating an unprecedented wave of economic instability and taking Quebec out of NATO.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMonetary policy is not a fairy tale. What you\u2019re saying will result in an incalculable decline in the purchasing power of Quebeckers,\u201d Beauchemin, the party\u2019s finance critic, added in an X post.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the PQ leader had predicted that the \u201cfederalist camp\u201d would condemn his proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s certain that the federalist discourse \u2013 and I\u2019ll give you a hint \u2013 will be to say that a Quebec currency will be dreadful, and to wage a fear campaign that is absolutely not based on facts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The PQ wants to establish an independent commission following a successful sovereignty referendum, which would then make its own recommendations including whether or not to create a Quebec currency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But St-Pierre Plamondon said he believes a Quebec currency is \u201cby far the most likely scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PQ has been soaring in the polls for almost two years now while Fran\u00e7ois Legault\u2019s CAQ government is struggling in public opinion.<\/p>\n

Polling aggregator Qc125 indicates that the CAQ could be virtually wiped off the electoral map if an election were held today. The Quebec Liberals are emerging as the likely main challenger to the PQ.<\/p>\n

But the PQ leader noted several tests remain, including a yet-to-be-called by-election in Chicoutimi, a traditionally nationalist riding which his party stands a good chance of taking from the governing Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p>\n

St-Pierre Plamondon said what is to come will be intense but it\u2019s important to maintain focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the minds of millions of Quebeckers, we represent the hope for a Quebec that will do better,\u201d St-Pierre Plamondon told the gathering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat explains why our opponents attack us relentlessly and without restraint, we simply must not let ourselves be distracted.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon with his wife in Sherbrooke, Que., this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-288023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}