How the CAQ's foreign interference bombshell turned into a dud in the Quebec election - National Post
Leader of the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) Christine Frechette speaks to the media following the third and final televised Quebec election debate in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on September 23, 2026. Photo by CHRISTOPHER KATSAROV /POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesArticle contentOTTAWA — It was a story that had the potential to be a bombshell, but appears to have blown up in the faces of the Coalition Avenir Québec instead.
Allegations of foreign interference made their way into the Quebec election on Friday, when Le Journal de Montréal reported that Ottawa recently warned the Quebec government of possible U.S. interference to help the Parti Québécois get elected.
At the heart of the warning was an unsigned publication from U.S. think tank Defense Analyses and Research Corporation (DARC) dated Feb. 26, which calls for the Trump administration to support separatist movements in Quebec and Alberta.
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“The United States should exploit the soon-to-arrive fragmentary moment in Canada as an opportunity to drastically reshape the North American environment into one more amenable to U.S. interests,” the post reads.
“U.S. strategy should be to achieve the fragmentation, not annexation, of Canada.”
As part of these efforts, DARC suggests that the U.S. should consider “covert support” for the PQ ahead of the Oct. 5 election, which includes overt financial support for the party and “behind-closed-doors trade negotiations” with the PQ to offer Quebec lower tariffs.
The news first prompted Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette to say she contacted Prime Minister Mark Carney to request an emergency meeting on the matter.
A few hours later, Fréchette changed her tune.
Fréchette said in a post on X that her team informed her of a post made by DARC on Saturday, Sept. 19, and contacted Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) on Tuesday, Sept. 22. A meeting with CSIS took place on Wednesday, Sept. 23.
By the end of the day, the incumbent premier and leader of the CAQ said she received no confirmed information indicating that interference has occurred in Quebec’s electoral process.
PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon questioned the timing of the initial news report, which came out just 48 hours before the start of the advance polls in Quebec.
He also openly speculated that the CAQ may have leaked the information to the media.
The PQ leader’s suspicions seemed plausible on Sunday, when Radio-Canada revealed that Fréchette’s team had been contacting reporters about the publication by DARC as early as Sept. 12, 10 days before it contacted CSIS about the alleged interference.
CSIS apparently told the CAQ that the viewpoints expressed by DARC were out in the public sphere, as columnists for The Globe and Mail and Le Devoir mentioned them earlier this year.
Thomas Juneau, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, said it may be too early to jump to conclusions as to whether DARC has attempted to meddle in the Quebec election, in an overt or covert way.
