Federal Bloc Québécois Leader Yves François Blanchet says his team of MPs will work closely with the Parti Québécois (PQ) in the coming months to ensure a victory for the sovereigntist party in next year’s provincial election. The relationship between Blanchet and PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has been visibly tense in recent months. However, in a long speech delivered to activists and members on Monday evening, the Bloc leader attempted to dispel any apparent quarrels between the two. “I say it again and again that the choices, strategies and programs in Quebec City, and the referendum approach, are the exclusive prerogative of the Parti Québécois and the leader of the Parti Québécois,” he said. “I will support you, and we will support your legitimate choices.” Blanchet was addressing, among others, Jean-Talon PQ MNA Pascal Paradis, who introduced the Bloc leader ahead of his speech. “If you’ll excuse my vernacular: ‘crisse,’ is that clear?” he added with a laugh. Blanchet ended his speech by saying that one of the Bloc Québécois’ priorities was to “send a sovereignist government to Quebec City.” “We will be everywhere on the ground, and on that ground, we will grow a country,” he said to loud applause. In a press scrum before the event, Paradis assured that “collaboration is excellent” between the two parties. “We saw it in Arthabaska, where many Bloc Québécois activists and members of Parliament came to give us a hand,” he said. “We talk to each other constantly.” When asked why the PQ’s leader was absent from the event, Paradis explained that he was representing the party as the member for Jean-Talon, where the caucus meeting was taking place. “I was invited, and I’m very happy to be here,” he said before leaving for the hall. Earlier in the day, Blanchet also referred to the election year ahead in Quebec City. “In exactly one year, we will be campaigning to elect an independent majority government in Quebec City,” he said before the caucus meeting. – This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 9, 2025.
