MONTREAL -- Coalition Avenir Quebec Christine Frechette blamed members of her own party for trying to get journalists to pursue a story about foreign interference in the electoral process as she tried to distance herself on Monday from a controversy that has dogged her on the election campaign trail for days.
The latest comments come after Frechette walked back comments on Friday warning that American operatives may be trying to help the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois get elected to destabilize the Canadian federation.
While Frechette initially pressed for an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney to discuss her concerns on Friday morning, she ended the day by issuing a statement confirming there was no evidence of foreign interference in the ongoing provincial election campaign.
But she was forced to address the issue again on Monday following a news report by Radio-Canada that revealed someone in the Coalition Avenir Quebec had spoken to journalists about foreign interference before they told her, and before the party informed federal authorities.
"I think it was ill-advised," Frechette told journalists in Mont-Tremblant. "Considering the sensitive nature of the subject, it should have been run by me before speaking to journalists."
Frechette and Domestic Security Minister Ian Lafreniere said that the party had addressed the leak internally.
"That initiative wasn't orchestrated by anyone," Ian Lafreniere said on the set of Radio-Canada in the morning. "We made sure that the person who took that initiative wouldn't be able to do so again."
The CAQ allegations were focused on some essays published by a U.S.-based think tank, the Defense Analyses and Research Corporation, that called for Americans to stoke division in Canada to destabilize the Canadian federation.
Frechette added that the employee who had contacted journalists about the essays was still working on her team.
Frechette also confirmed on Friday that her party had contacted and met with Canadian Security Intelligence Service in the past week to discuss the possibility of interference.
In an email to The Canadian Press on Friday, CSIS said they briefed the province's political parties on the risks of foreign interference in June.
"This approach is in line with our current practices, under which we provide briefings to any political party across the country when we learn that elections have been called at the federal or provincial level, with the aim of protecting our democratic processes and increasing resilience to threats," wrote CSIS spokesperson Eric Balsam.
Frechette's rivals were quick to criticize her handling of the interference claims. On Sunday, Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard and PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the affair disqualified Frechette from leadership.
Leaders have a week left to pitch to voters ahead of election day on Oct. 5.
The second and final day of advance polling was scheduled to end at 8 p.m. on Monday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2026.