Asked about the allegations during a campaign stop in Gatineau, Fr\u00e9chette said: \u201cThe Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois is looking to create a sort of division between Quebec and the rest of Canada. And I don\u2019t think Trump looks unfavourably on the idea of there being divisions within Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
She went on to say St-Pierre Plamondon appeared to be giving more credibility to Trump than to Carney, while arguing Canada needs to \u201cclose ranks\u201d amid the U.S. tariff war.<\/p>\n
Asked whether she was suggesting Trump was encouraging the Quebec sovereignty movement, Fr\u00e9chette replied: \u201cI\u2019m not saying that he\u2019s encouraging it. I\u2019m saying there seems to be an alignment, a convergence of views.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump wants to weaken Canada. I think that\u2019s his wish, and he told us that. He hasn\u2019t hidden it,\u201d she said, referring to Trump\u2019s repeated calls for Canada to become the 51st state.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn its side, the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois wants a winning referendum within the next four years,\u201d Fr\u00e9chette continued. \u201cSo I\u2019m simply saying that there seems to be a convergence of views between one and the other. I won\u2019t go any further than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fr\u00e9chette also rejected the suggestion that Ottawa was interfering in the campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois seems to see a conspiracy where there isn\u2019t one,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She pointed to agreements reached between Quebec and Ottawa and said her government would work with the federal government when it was in Quebec\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois is mainly looking for is conflict,\u201d Fr\u00e9chette said. \u201cThey like to keep that conflict going because it helps build support for the idea of having a referendum.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The Gazette\u2019s On Quebec Politics newsletter by Andy Riga breaks down key election issues, from polling shifts to legislative manoeuvring to ideas circulating in francophone commentary that don\u2019t make it into English-language coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec (CAQ) Leader Christine Fr\u00e9chette drew a comparison Friday between Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,120789,66],"class_list":["post-884116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-quebec-elections","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884116","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=884116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}