Parti Québécois leader stands with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her ‘strong hand’

OTTAWA — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has an ally in Quebec and his name is Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the Parti Québécois leader. A day after Smith threatened the federal government of including a referendum question on separation in 2026 if her province didn’t have the Accord, she thinks it deserves with Ottawa, St-Pierre Plamondon said Smith made a “striking gesture” for the “autonomy and defence of her own province.” “It doesn’t matter what referendum they hold, because obviously it’s under construction. But I totally agree with provinces that stand up, that are loyal to their own Parliament, that are capable of showing a strong hand. And that’s the key word, strong hand,” said St-Pierre Plamondon, who is often called PSPP in Quebec. In a in a livestreamed address Monday , Premier Smith called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to negotiate a new deal between Ottawa and Alberta guaranteeing more pipelines and changes to equalization. “We hope this will result in a binding agreement that Albertans can have confidence in. Call it an ‘Alberta accord’,” said Smith who then called Alberta’s separation “the elephant in the room.” “The vast majority of (separatists) are not fringe voices… They are loyal Albertans,” she said. “They’re … our friends and neighbours who’ve just had enough of having their livelihoods and prosperity attacked by a hostile federal government.” At a press conference at Quebec’s National Assembly, St-Pierre Plamondon said it was a “good thing” if other provinces are able to “stand up to the federal government”. He added that “other provinces are showing” that Canada has issues that affect all provinces in terms of “abuse of power”. St-Pierre Plamondon then went on the offensive against the province’s journalists for not covering the rebound in support of Quebec secession . A recent Postmedia-Leger poll revealed that support for Quebec independence, which had fallen below 30 per cent in recent month, sits back at nearly 40 per cent. Even though Canada is engaged in a tariff war with its closest ally, support for Quebec independence has reached 36 per cent according to new data. “The most recent and most precise information is the independence of Quebec at 40 per cent, it is the increase in independence in Alberta,” he said. Léger also polled Canadians from all provinces about their opinion about their province’s independence. The result was that 29 per cent of Albertans supported Alberta sovereignty while an overwhelming majority of the 2,309 respondents (71 per cent) were opposed. National Post atrepanier@postmedia.com Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.