Tension between the Parti Quebecois leadership candidates came to a head over the weekend when Jean-Francois Lisée suggested that Alexandre Cloutier was being endorsed by Adil Charkaoui.

Charkaoui is a controversial imam who was subject to a security certificate for several years.

Cloutier has been pushing for a softer approach on secularism, saying he's now in favour of allowing teachers to wear religious symbols including the veil in classrooms.

Lisée has taken a harder line, calling for a debate on banning burqas and niqabs in public spaces, saying the coverings some Muslim women wear could be a threat to public security because they hide their identity.

Charkaoui recently posted a message on Facebook praising Cloutier's position on secularism and reasonable accommodations for religious views, while criticizing Lisée's statements about the burka and saying he had an Islamophobic approach.

Lisée tweeted that Charkaoui was endorsing Cloutier, and Cloutier took offence at the notion.

Cloutier, who is the frontrunner in the PQ leadership race, held a news conference Saturday saying that he had alerted the Sureté du Quebec because he was now getting threats and other hate messages on social media.

Interim leader Sylvain Gaudreault posted a message on Facebook calling for calm and "a spirit of collegiality and unity."

Lisée later removed the tweet, but refused to apologize for it. 

That bickering over the notion of inclusiveness and multiculturalism prompted the Liberal Party to issue a communiqué on Sunday.

House Leader Jean-Marc Fournier said the arguing during a leadership race shows the PQ is lost and out of touch.

"I think it's important to make people aware of what's happening and I think that if there's one word, in French it's depassé, disconnected, outdated. That being said the PQ just has one objective. They've got nothing on the modernization of the economy, on the modernatization of education, on the modernization of health. They are nowhere there," said Fournier.

The autumn session of the National Assembly session begins Tuesday, and identity issues will likely be debated.

Bill 62 is the Liberal government's bill on religious neutrality and religious accommodation, and there's already been pressure from the opposition to deal with the issue quickly.

As Francoise David of Quebec Solidaire put it Monday: "We won't be able to avoid it. The debate has to happen."