Blanchet calls Canada ‘an artificial country with very little meaning’

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet says Quebec is part of 'an artificial country with very little meaning called Canada,' during a campaign stop.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet issued a scathing assessment Friday of Canada as a country, and Quebec’s place in it as he made his case to Quebecers that only he would protect their interests.

“We are, whether we like it or not, part of an artificial country with very little meaning, called Canada,” Blanchet said in English during a campaign stop in Shawinigan, Que.

He made the comment in response to a question about previous remarks he made referring to the House of Commons as a “foreign parliament” that he sits in.

“It’s a foreign parliament because this nation is not mine,” Blanchet explained. “I don’t feel more at ease in the Canadian Parliament than (Alberta Premier Danielle) Smith would feel at ease in the National Assembly of Quebec.”

However he said that his party is nonetheless seeking the balance of power in Parliament because as long as Quebec officially remains a part of Canada, “we are entitled to any right and privilege and opportunity being provided by the persons who vote, and I will relinquish none of them.”

Blanchet made the comments with just days left before Canadians head to the polls in an election in which U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats against Canadian sovereignty have galvanized voters across the country.

With the latest polls showing the governing Liberals and their rival Conservatives just a few points apart and the rest of the parties far behind them, Blanchet and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh have been fighting a heated battle for third place.

If either the Liberals or the Conservatives were to win a minority, the third-place party could wield significant influence if they have enough MPs to prop up the government.

Both the Bloc and the NDP have seen their support collapse in the polls as voters indicate a preference for a government with a strong mandate.

On Friday, Singh blasted the Bloc as being a “useless party.”

Blanchet responded to the comment in his campaign stop.

“I will let you deal with the uselessness of my party, and if I were Mr. Singh, I would do anything not to be compared with the Bloc Quebecois at present time. So he may say whatever he wants. I don’t really care.”