MariannlïSourceCC BY 2.0Existing portrait crop retained; resized only.
Yves-François Blanchet has led the Bloc Québécois, a sovereigntist federal party that represents Quebec in the House of Commons, since 2019, and is a member of Parliament. Earlier he sat in Quebec's National Assembly and served as the province's minister of sustainable development, environment, wildlife and parks.
We have documented 1 statement by Yves-François Blanchet, in 1 case. Each statement below gives the quotation, its original source and a link to the full case.
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Role at the time: Leader of the Bloc Québécois, interviewed by La Presse
Defended or excused
Statement summary
In a French-language interview with La Presse, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet said he tells Prime Minister Mark Carney to move closer to Europe, and that if Carney does, the Bloc could well be a very good collaborator.
“I tell Mr. Carney: move closer to Europe. If you do that, the Bloc could well be a very, very good collaborator. And if the federal government has the Bloc's support, it can do pretty much what it wants. (Translated from French. Original: Je dis à M. Carney : rapprochez-vous de l’Europe. Si vous faites ça, le Bloc risque d’être un très, très bon collaborateur. Et si le gouvernement fédéral a l’appui du Bloc, il peut faire pas mal ce qu’il veut.)”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Le Bloc québécois prêt à épauler Mark Carney dans son virage européenHighlighted quotation attributed to Yves-François Blanchet, set off after the paragraph in which he says Quebec's interests should be carried into the conversation
Why we used this label
The reference point is whether Canada should become an associate member of the European Union, the proposal for closer ties that von der Leyen offered. Blanchet told Carney to move closer to Europe and said the Bloc could well be a very good collaborator if he did. That supports the direction of the proposal without addressing the associate-member label, so we labeled it Defended or excused. His warnings about the terms appear elsewhere in the interview.
The European Commission president offered to open the door for Canada to become the European Union's first associate member. Mark Carney welcomed the ambition, Pierre Poilievre set red lines, and Donald Trump threatened tariffs. Nobody has defined what the status would mean.
