{"id":718020,"date":"2026-06-06T01:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/718020\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T01:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:34:11","slug":"parti-quebecois-plans-to-maintain-contact-with-alberta-independence-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/718020\/","title":{"rendered":"Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois plans to maintain contact with Alberta independence movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon speaks during a news conference.Jacques Boissinot\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says he will continue contact with the separatist movement in Alberta as the Western province prepares to hold a referendum on whether it should remain in Canada. <\/p>\n

Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon told reporters in Montreal on Friday that he has been open about his communication with Alberta separatists over the last several months, casting it as a form of diplomacy. <\/p>\n

\u201cI will try to maintain a connection with the independence movement from time to time,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The PQ leader has promised to hold a third referendum in Quebec if his party, which is leading in most polls, forms government in a provincial election set for Oct. 5. That vote will occur two weeks before Albertans choose whether to remain in Canada or to begin the legal process that would lead to a binding referendum on secession. <\/p>\n

Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon\u2019s comments come days after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith travelled to Quebec City to meet with her counterpart, Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec Leader Christine Fr\u00e9chette, in a show of support for a united Canada. <\/p>\n

Smith highlights common causes in visit with Quebec counterpart<\/a><\/p>\n

The PQ leader has not endorsed Alberta leaving Canada, but said last month that Ms. Smith was \u201cjust doing her job\u201d in consulting voters on separation. The party\u2019s official position on the matter is that \u201cthe Alberta referendum process belongs to Albertans,\u201d spokesperson Alexandre Tanguay said in a written message. <\/p>\n

Jeffrey Rath, a leader in Alberta\u2019s independence movement, confirmed in an interview that he is in contact with Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon. But he said the PQ, with its nearly 60-year-old party infrastructure, has not offered to make its people or resources available to Alberta\u2019s decentralized independence movement, and he doesn\u2019t expect the PQ leader to be involved in the province\u2019s Oct. 19 referendum campaign. <\/p>\n

On Friday, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon offered few details about the nature of his \u201cprivate\u201d discussions with separatists in Alberta. \u201cI am not required to account for every single phone call I make in a day.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added that there is \u201cno connection\u201d between the processes leading to votes on separation in Alberta and Quebec. <\/p>\n

Ms. Smith, who says she supports Alberta remaining in Canada, announced last month that she would put an independence question to Albertans in the province\u2019s October referendum. She has defended her decision, pointing to a petition aimed at forcing a secession vote, which separatists say collected more than 301,000 signatures. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Quebec\u2019s two referendums on independence in 1980 and 1995 were launched by Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois governments that campaigned to leave Canada. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust as you see me engaging in diplomacy in France \u2013 I went to Scotland, I went to England \u2013 obviously, we engage in diplomacy with the independence movement,\u201d the PQ leader said Friday. <\/p>\n

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

Alberta separatist Jeffrey Rath, shown in Edmonton on May 4, has maintained contact with Paul St-Pierre Plamondon since the men met last September.JASON FRANSON\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Mr. Rath said he and Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon first met last September over dinner at the Fairmont Palliser in Calgary. The PQ leader was visiting to give a lecture at the University of Calgary.<\/p>\n

He said the PQ reached out to him ahead of Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon\u2019s trip and the two men \u2013 both lawyers by trade \u2013 have maintained contact ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe share ideas back and forth. I always appreciate his take on things, and I think he appreciates my point of view as well,\u201d Mr. Rath said, sharing few details on their discussions.<\/p>\n

Mr. Rath said the Alberta secessionists have a valuable ally in Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon. \u201cI think he\u2019s an extremely capable, extremely intelligent person, and Quebec would be very lucky to have him as a premier,\u201d Mr. Rath said.<\/p>\n

The existence of links between the two separatist movements has been known for months. During his visit last September, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon said he would acknowledge Alberta sovereignty in the event of a successful referendum. <\/p>\n

The collaboration between the provincial groups has continued since. Mitch Sylvestre, one of the leaders of the independence group known as the Alberta Prosperity Project, told Montreal\u2019s La Presse in January that he and Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon were \u201cfriends\u201d and that they had spoken a \u201chalf-dozen\u201d times. <\/p>\n

The PQ leader offered his Alberta counterpart advice, but did not want him to \u201creveal\u201d it, Mr. Sylvestre said. The PQ even invited him to its January congress in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que., he added. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are certainly colleagues and allies,\u201d Mr. Sylvestre said at the time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon speaks during a news conference.Jacques Boissinot\/The Canadian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-718020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","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-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-science","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\/718020","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=718020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}