Parti Québécois leader worries — without proof — that Ottawa is spying on his party

QUÉBEC — Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says he’s worried the federal government is spying on his party.

St-Pierre Plamondon told reporters on Tuesday he has no proof but says there’s a long history of spying and surveillance against his party.

“If there’s one constant in the history of the Parti Québécois, it’s that the leader and influential members are spied on,” he told a news conference at the legislature.

However, he added that “the truth is, we don’t have the means to verify that.”

The Parti Québécois is leading the polls with only months to go before October’s general election and has promised to hold a sovereignty referendum by 2030 if it forms government.

St-Pierre Plamondon said smartphones make it a lot easier to eavesdrop, and he’s working on the assumption that Ottawa is trying to listen.

“It’s much easier than back in the day when someone had to tape a recorder to their stomach,” he said.

He says party members are taking precautions by putting their phones into signal-proof bags and removing them from the room during meetings.

Poll aggregator Qc125 suggests the PQ would win about 64 seats, or a slim majority, if the vote was held today.

St-Pierre Plamondon isn’t wrong to say that the federal government has been interested in the PQ in years past. For example, the recently deceased Claude Morin, an architect of the PQ’s 1976 election victory, was a paid informant for the RCMP.

“We know that each decade, the Government of Canada has taken ethically and legally very questionable steps to monitor elected PQ members,” Plamondon said.

Québec solidaire spokesperson Ruba Ghazal said she wasn’t worried about being spied on by Ottawa, despite leading a sovereigntist party. “I don’t have those worries,” she said.

The province’s domestic security minister, Ian Lafrenière, said he was surprised by St-Pierre Plamondon’s statement.

“I’m not saying it’s impossible. I really doubt it,” he said, adding that the PQ’s strategy and desire for a referendum was “pretty transparent.”

“I hope they’re not worried that one of the members of their caucus is a spy,” added Lafrenière, who said he considers foreign interference to be a bigger concern.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2026.