The Ben Mulroney Show - What a hopeful Quebec Premier is looking forward to juggling

Episode Date: May 25, 2026

GUEST:  Charles Milliard / Quebec liberal leader If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Executive Producer:  Mike Drolet Reach out to Mike with story ideas or tips at [e-mail] Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast is brought to you by the National Payroll Institute, the leader for the payroll profession in Canada, setting the standard of professional excellence, delivering critical expertise, and providing resources that over 45,000 payroll professionals rely on. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show. And because we are a national show, we want to have national conversations. And that requires talking to leaders from all different parts of the country. And the leadership of Quebec is up for grabs as an election comes. near the end of the year, and the polls have the Partsiquequequeque neck and neck with the Liberal Party of Quebec. And so I'm very pleased to be sitting with the liberal leader of Quebec Charlemillard.

Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Happy to be here. So I'm looking at the polls and 338. So am I. And really neck and neck. But I guess because of vote distribution, if you guys have the same vote percentage, that still gives the Parti-Chibecois the chance to win a majority.

Yes, right now it's going to be a party-Chebecois government, if not. I think changes, but it will change because Quebecers have been asking for renewal for the past two years in the polls. And I think that Quebecers are done with the Coalition of Neer-Khebeck, so they're looking at either Parts-Khequeque or the Liberal Party of Quebec. Which is sort of back to the old days, right? Back to those two titans of Quebec politics, but things have changed. The CAQ under Legault, I believe, sort of broke the binary choice that voters had. If you were a separatist, you went in one camp, and if you're a federalist, the other. And now that has, I think that's made things more interesting, but I think it's probably

made things more difficult. Well, I think that both the traditional parties in Quebec have changed in a way. First, there's a big change in the leadership. I mean, I'm 46. Mr. Plamondo is 48. So there's a new generation of leaders coming up in Quebec. But the Article 1 of the Parts Quebecois manifest is all about separation. So that hasn't changed. And 70% of Quebecers in the recent polls are, do not want a referendum. So we're going to have to regroup all the federalists under the same big tent that is the Liberal Party of Quebec. So how do we, how do you reconcile the disconnection, the vast majority of Quebecers don't want separation? The raison d'être of the party Quebecois is separation and yet they are leading in the polls.

Well, actually, there was, I think they were looking for something different in the past few months. And, you know, there's been a lot of turmoil at the Liberal Party of Quebec with, you know, the previous leadership race. And as you know, I became leader three months ago. but the numbers keeps going in the right direction for us in the past three months. So there's a really reason to be hopeful for us. So introduce yourself to the ROC, as it were, the rest of Canada. Who is Charlemillard? And what kind of government would he lead within Canada?

Well, I'm 46 years old. I'm a pharmacist by trade, actually. I was an executive vice president of a big chain of pharmacies in Quebec. And then I led the Federation of Chambers for five years. So I've been touring Quebec for the past 25 years. so I know what is Quebec made of and I used to be a member of the party for the past 28 years so it has been my political family for all my life basically

and the Liberal Party of Quebec needs to be at the same time regionalists, nationalists and federalists so we want to bring back the spirit that was happening in the party when Robert Bourassa was a premier so both very very rooted in the different regions of course Quebec, but we want Canada to work. So we want to have a good relationship with Ontario, with the rest of Canada. Hence my presence here, because I'm giving a speech tomorrow at the Economic Club.

You know, you must have been probably you were a teenager the last time separation was on the ballot in Quebec. I was 16, actually. So that's, that's formative. That's a formative time. And now you're looking back at 30 years later, you know, there is for different reasons, but it would have the same outcome. You know, there's a movement afoot in, in Alberta. Yeah.

As a federalist within Quebec, what do you tell those in Alberta who would want to decamp from Canada? Well, to me, it's very dangerous and I'm very disappointed with what I see with the decision of Premier Smith. So obviously there's going to be, there's a need for all the provinces to regroup, especially given the geopolitical context right now on the world stage. So we'll see what happens. And you know the consultation in Alberta will be two weeks after the election in Quebec. So it's going to be interesting to see what the different political forces will say in the fall, in the early fall. What are you hearing?

Because I think one of the ways for somebody like you to make inroads and sort of move that needle from the dead heat with the Pacti Kewa is to go listen to those who are currently parking their vote with the PQ. What are you hearing from those people in terms of why they think that sense of alternance they've got to go from the CAQ to the PQ? Well, actually, when we're looking at the priorities of Quebecers, it's all about the cost of living, housing, healthcare, education, the economy.

So those are not, you know, issues based on identity and language. So we're going to need to be talking about kitchen table issues in this campaign. And the Coalition of Neer Quebec, Premier Lego and now Premier Freshat, they've been very disappointing when it comes to balancing the books

and finding economic opportunities for Quebecers. And when we look at what Premier Ford is doing, and I'm not partisan here, but he's very proud about developing industries, mining industry, pharmaceutical industries, manufacturing. So we need that spirit in Quebec back. And it hasn't been the case in the past eight years, obviously. And I've spoken just a few weeks ago

with the leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec as well. That's a fairly new development as well. Again, if you are in a situation where no one achieves a majority in the House in the Assembly National, would you be open to the idea of forming a coalition with the other federalist parties? That's an interesting question, because you know that Mr. Zuem likes to say that he's a federalist, but he voted yes in 95. And that's the same thing for Premier Frasette. So actually, at the next leaders debate in Quebec in September, I'm going to be the only one for the no side.

But people can change their minds. People can grow from 95. Obviously, but when we're asking them, especially Mr. Zem, what he would vote in an upcoming referendum, he cannot answer. He's not able to answer. So that's something. Well, that's interesting. I was under the impression.

Well, anyway, in French, he doesn't answer. Maybe he answers in English in Toronto. I went to the website of the party, and by and large, generally speaking, it looked like it was lifted from the conservative party. Well, I think the PCQ, the Conservative Party of Quebec voters are mostly federal. but their leader is not able to say what he would vote for. So anyway, there's collaboration that is possible, but I think that the Liberal Party of Quebec needs to be the big tent

of all the federalists in the upcoming elections, especially facing Mr. Plamondon, who has been very adamant about having a referendum in the first mandate. But I do think it's an interesting opportunity for the Liberal Party. It is the default position of most federalists, but prior to the rise of the Keck, there was nowhere else for them to go. So it's an opportunity for the Liberal Party of Quebec to raise its game, right?

To actually go out there and prove to the Federalists that that's where their vote should be, as opposed to just assuming that it was always going to be there. That's it. And it's an opportunity for us to reach all communities, francophone, Anglophone, all the different regions. And based on the positive reception that I have from all the candidates that are, that will be running, I think we're going to have a very star-studded team in the next election. There was a lot of talk after the last election team, Canada elbows up. Everyone's got a row in the same direction.

And it didn't take long. It did not take long for David Eby to essentially say, no, you know, there's going to be no pipeline. And even Mr. Lugo, taking issues with natural resource extraction going through the province of Quebec. What would it be your opinion if the country decided that there was a project of national importance that required buy-in from everyone that would have to go through the territory of Quebec? What would be your opinion is well? I think the prime role of every leader, whether it's premier or prime minister, is to be open for development, for economic development. And I think that what Mr. Carney is doing right now, you know, going around and looking for opportunities is good. We need to do the same in Quebec. The problem is that in the past eight years, we haven't, we haven't had a premier that

first likes to travel and likes to, you know, you develop. And he came once a year maybe to take a picture with Doc Ford and that was it. So we need, we need Premier. And I will. and I want to be that premier that will actually look for opportunities in Toronto in Victoria and Saskatoon because at 41 million people, that's a strong market for us. So the goal between now and the election is to introduce yourself to the leadership across the country. Yes. But also, in a lot of ways, you've got interviewed. You've only been the leader for three months.

So if people in Quebec are listening right now, what are the top three things they need to know about the Liberal Party under Charles Miliard, because it's new. And the past few years have not been good ones for the Liberal Party of Quebec. Yeah, and it's a new Liberal Party of Quebec, but then it's the oldest party in the history of Quebec. You know, it has been there since 1867. So I want them to listen to both my platform and the team that I will be building. And based on the, again, the positive receptions that I have,

we're going to have lawyers, doctors, people from all walks of life, entrepreneurs, as CEOs. So it's going to be a very interesting race, but hopefully we will regroup together as liberals and then as Canadians, as Quebecers, because we need to be, elbows up is still something that needs to be happening in Quebec.

Charles Melmiel, thank you very much. Thank you.