Quebec Premier François Legault delved deeper into federal politics on Saturday, sharing a social media post by a federal Conservative adviser who accused the Bloc Québécois of being “an accomplice” of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The post was by Vincent Desmarais, a Quebec adviser to Conservative Leader Pierre Polievre who until last spring worked for Legault.
“In 2008, the Bloc preferred to be an accomplice of a centralizing and Trudeauist party rather than defend the interests of Quebec,” Desmarais wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Today, history is repeating itself. #BlocLiberal.”
Less than an hour after Desmarais’ published the post, Legault reposted it, without adding any comment.
It’s the second time this week Legault has waded into federal politics.
On Thursday, he tried but failed to convince Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet to vote with the Conservatives next week on a confidence motion to topple the Liberals.
Legault said the Trudeau government must go because it’s allowing too many temporary immigrants into the province, a policy he argued is “weakening the Quebec nation.”
Desmarais’s post included two photos.
One was from 2008. It shows the then-leaders of the Bloc (Gilles Duceppe), Liberals (Stéphane Dion) and NDP (Jack Layton). The second photo shows Blanchet shaking hands with Trudeau.
The 2008 photo was taken after the Liberals and NDP signed an agreement to form a coalition government if they could oust the minority Conservative government. The Bloc pledged to support the coalition for 18 months. The coalition never materialized.
On Thursday, Legault called on the Bloc Québécois to bring down the Liberal government, saying he was fed up because Trudeau is not budging on immigration.
“I ask (Paul) St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the PQ, to have the courage today to ask his comrade in the Bloc Québécois to back off, to not support the Trudeau government next week and to defend the interests of Quebecers and the Quebec nation,” Legault said.
But that request was flatly rejected by Blanchet. He said he’s ready to prop up the Liberals after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh pulled his formal support for Trudeau’s minority government in early September.
Blanchet has said he will not support the Conservative confidence motion. Singh has also rejected the motion. That would mean the Liberal government would survive.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Thursday, Blanchet said he would not do Legault’s bidding.
“The answer is no,” the Bloc leader said. “I am neither a Conservative nor a Liberal … or a Caquiste. I am the leader of the Bloc Québécois. I serve Quebecers, not the Liberals, based on my own judgment.”
Legault has ventured into federal politics before.
During the 2021 federal election campaign, he gave a tacit endorsement to the Conservatives.
He said a minority Conservative government in Ottawa would be best for Quebec, urging the province’s nationalists to beware of the Liberals and the NDP because they want to centralize more power in Ottawa.
Trudeau ended up with a minority government, with the Liberals and Bloc seat count in Quebec remaining unchanged from the previous election.
Blanchet last week pointed to Legault’s 2021 election musings.
“The last time he played at this, he paid the price,” Blanchet said, referring to the fact Quebecers did not follow the premier’s advice.
There are links between Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec and Poilievre and the Conservatives.
The Conservatives have recruited former Coalition Avenir Québec MNA Éric Lefebvre as a candidate, and there’s speculation that another CAQ MNA — Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard — may also jump to the federal Conservatives.
The next scheduled federal election is in October 2025.
An early vote became more likely after the NDP pulled its support for Trudeau’s minority government. Both the NDP and the Bloc have said they will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to support the Liberal in confidence votes.
Trudeau recently drew Legault’s ire by accusing the CAQ government of “attacking” anglophone Quebecers as it tries to protect the French language.