A potential Parti Québécois (PQ) government would be “very proactive” in the area of international relations, promised PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who criticizes the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) for having neglected this issue in recent years. St-Pierre Plamondon was invited by the Montreal Council on International Relations (CORIM) to present his vision for Quebec in the face of various global challenges. Speaking before an audience of about 350 people on Thursday afternoon, the leader of the sovereignist party reiterated his commitment to doubling the size of Quebec’s diplomatic network abroad if he takes office next October. In his speech, St-Pierre Plamondon criticized the CAQ government for failing to make international relations a priority in recent years, leading, for example, to “a slowdown or weakening of our relations with countries like France,” in his view. “It’s certain that a Parti Québécois government will be very proactive in diplomacy in general, but very, very proactive—and I would even say courageous—in negotiations that could affect Quebec,” he said on stage during a discussion with Marco Bélair-Cirino, political editor of the newspaper Le Devoir. St-Pierre Plamondon criticizes the CAQ government for having been “playing catch-up” in the context of the trade war with the United States. He promises that a PQ government would act more “preemptively.” The PQ leader believes that former premier François Legault “largely disengaged from international missions, especially diplomatic ones. We saw very few of them.” About two weeks after taking office as premier, Christine Fréchette travelled to Washington last month. This weekend, she plans to fly to Paris for a mission. Although he agrees with these trips, the PQ leader doubts the results. “It’s just like everything else. We’re trying to do in a few weeks what we didn’t do in seven and a half years. And obviously, with the difficulty that results can’t be conjured up in a few weeks,” he said during a press scrum. “What I just said before the CORIM is that international relations are useful precisely when the tectonic plates are shifting, but they require attention over several years. You don’t build relationships overnight,” he added. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 14, 2026.
