Federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says she’s concerned to hear the Parti Québécois (PQ) leader call for a “closer alignment” with the United States if Quebec were to become an independent country. According to her, “the leader of the PQ wants to give Quebec to Donald Trump, to throw it into the arms” of the American president. “He wants to make sure Quebec is much more weakened in the face of an America that is gaining enormous power and wants to impose its own rules around the world,” Joly said on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting Tuesday morning. For the past few weeks, PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has been gradually unveiling the contents of his Livre bleu on a sovereign Quebec. Early this month, he released a summary of a chapter dealing with international relations. St-Pierre Plamondon has said Quebec has every interest in maintaining “direct and constructive” relations with the United States, even in today’s unstable context. According to him, Canada no longer acts as a “shield,” but rather a “cacophony.” “We have an interest in speaking with our own voice, and in having diplomacy in Washington. A diplomacy that will be less arrogant and much more down to earth than Canada’s diplomacy in recent years,” he told reporters. The sovereigntist leader also plans to tour the United States in early 2026. The PQ’s push for a “closer alignment” with Quebec’s southern neighbour “is extremely concerning,” Joly said. “At the very moment when Canadian sovereignty, more generally, is being undermined by the United States,” the Liberal MP added. Reacting to the minister’s comments, PQ MNA Alex Boissonneault argued that “the only person currently giving Quebec to Donald Trump is Mark Carney and the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC).” He said the LPC has “thrown Quebec’s interests under the bus” along with its election promises tied to negotiations with Trump. “Where are the counter-tariffs promised during the campaign, before backing down without obtaining the slightest guarantee? And why the silence on Quebec lumber, when we can hear you loud and clear defending the economic interests of other provinces?” he wrote on the social platform X. Joly also criticized the sovereigntist party’s idea of creating a Quebec currency following a Yes victory in a sovereignty referendum. She argued Quebecers would see their purchasing power shrink if such a scenario materialized. “We know any currency depends on the size of the economy. And the size of Quebec’s economy, while significant, is nonetheless much smaller than Canada’s,” the minister said, adding her goal is “to ensure Quebec has more powers” and “a stronger economy.” Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Joly “may have done a diagonal and hostile reading” of the PQ’s proposals. He suggested the minister is leaning on fear. “When you put what she said about Quebec someday having its own currency, and Donald Trump, in the same sentence, you’re taking a big risk. Because the politics of fear is Mr. Trump’s approach so far, and it works,” Blanchet told parliamentary reporters. Although the PQ favours a Quebec currency, the party says it would establish an independent commission to make its own recommendations once Quebec becomes a country. That commission could ultimately decide against creating a Quebec currency. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 18, 2025. By Frédéric Lacroix-Couture
