Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon questions the government at the legislature in Quebec City, on Tuesday.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
The leader of the Parti Québécois said without evidence on Tuesday that he believes the federal government is spying on his party, reviving an old grievance of the province’s independence movement that once had a basis in fact.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and his colleagues leave their phones outside the room in signal-blocking pouches during sensitive meetings and otherwise conduct themselves as though they are under surveillance by Ottawa, he told a Quebec City press conference.
“I have a duty to be cautious,” he said. “It’s not paranoia, it’s simply knowing your history.”
The allegation comes at a delicate time for national unity, with separatist movements in Alberta and Quebec gaining momentum. The PQ is leading or tied in most polls and promising an independence referendum if they win October’s provincial election.
The leader’s comments also come with historic federal spying fresh in the province’s political consciousness, just over a week since the death of Claude Morin, a former PQ cabinet minister later revealed to be a paid RCMP informant. Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon mentioned the “shadows” around Mr. Morin’s legacy in paying homage to the prominent sovereigntist.
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However, Canadian intelligence and national security experts say it’s highly unlikely the federal government is currently engaged in surveillance of a provincial political party – even one promoting independence. Wesley Wark, a senior fellow at the non-partisan think tank Centre for International Governance Innovation, said it’s “preposterous to assume that the PQ would be spied on nowadays.”
The RCMP did not immediately provide comment. The Prime Minister’s Quebec lieutenant Joël Lightbound declined to comment.
Recent research has highlighted how foreign actors are using the Alberta separatist movement to spread disinformation in Canada, while the Public Safety Ministry told The Globe last week that such threats are a priority for the federal government.
There are no credible allegations of foreign interference benefiting the Quebec independence movement today, although such fears have prompted surveillance of the PQ in the past.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon claimed to have “information” related to alleged federal spying on his party, but acknowledged that he had no proof and was unable to investigate.
“The truth is, we don’t have the means to verify that – we’re a little organization.”
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Although Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon’s allegations are vague, the history of federal spying on the PQ is well-documented. In 1973, the Mounties broke into a computer company’s offices to steal an electronic party membership list, as detailed by a later public inquiry.
In the same period, Mr. Morin was meeting occasionally with RCMP officers who hoped to gather intelligence about French interference in Quebec politics. The contacts continued through the time that Mr. Morin was a PQ cabinet minister in the René Lévesque government, although he later claimed he was outwitting the agents by gathering information about their operations.
The federal Communications Security Establishment had a division to monitor separatist politicians in the 1980s, according to revelations by former employee Mike Frost, while as recently as 1994 Radio-Canada reported that the CSE maintained files on leading PQ members.
Public evidence of federal surveillance in more recent decades is scant, however, and the PQ did not immediately respond to a request for such evidence.
Mr. Wark said the 1984 creation of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which replaced the RCMP’s intelligence operations, tightened the rules around such surveillance. Federal legislation sets out the national security threats CSIS is allowed to investigate, including espionage, sabotage, foreign interference, terrorism and subversion.
“None of those categories would apply to the PQ,” he said.
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Mr. Wark pointed out that the “security environment” in Quebec has changed dramatically since the 1960s, when the Front de libération du Québec, a violent separatist group, launched a series of attacks.
The lack of more recent spying disclosure hasn’t reassured Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, however. Past instances have coincided with the lead-up to referendums in the late 1970s and mid-1990s, which could be grounds for concern today, with the possibility of another independence vote on the horizon, he said.
For now, the leader said, he will continue to exercise caution.
Bill Robinson, an expert on Canadian signals intelligence and a research fellow at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, said it’s “perfectly sensible” for political parties to take the threat of surveillance seriously. It’s not a bad idea to leave phones out of meetings, he said – but Ottawa is unlikely to be the culprit.
“There could be all kinds of foreign governments listening in on what you’re talking about,” he said. “And then leaking that information back for whatever ends they have.”
With reports from Bill Curry and Tu Thanh Ha