Parti Quebecois MNA and leadership hopeful Pierre Karl Peladeau has apologized for comments suggesting that immigration is making it harder for Quebec achieve sovereignty.

At a debate Wednesday night at Laval University, Peladeau said demographic changes and immigration are to blame for the PQ "losing a riding a year."

“We hope to be able to better control [those losses], but don’t be fooled. Who supports immigrants who come to live in Quebec? It’s the federal government,” he said.

The comments did not sit well, however and at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday he issued an apology on his Facebook page.

"I would like to apologize for the unfortunate statement I made about demography and immigration yesterday. This statement was inappropriate and does not reflect my thinking. The success of our collective project depends on our ability to unite Quebecers of all origins. I intend to show leadership on this issue, take concrete actions to maintain dialogue with communities and work hard to better explain the project and the benefits of Quebec independence. I have entered politics to make Quebec a country that will continue to be generous to all citizens, whatever their origins. I'm also working closely with Bourget MNA Maka Kotto to promote constant dialogue, and share our experiences. This is the ultimate objective."

One day earlier Peladeau said Quebec doesn’t have another 25 years to wait before holding a referendum, and that the party’s work to convince Quebecers of the merits of sovereignty must start as soon as possible.

Fellow leadership hopeful Alexandre Cloutier disagreed with Peladeau’s remarks.

“I want the PQ to be representative of the population as it is today, and I dream the PQ leads Quebec to independence, and that […] everyone from another country gets on board with us in our project to create independence,” he said during the rebuttal.

Premier Philippe Couillard said at the legislature Thursday that since the Charter of Values debate from last year's election, there has been "a very unfortunate drift."

"There is no longer a financial argument or an economic argument for the separation of Quebec so they're clinging to whatever they can," he said.

Peladeau, who is believed to be the frontrunner in the race, said his intention in making the comments was to show the Quebec government must work as hard as the federal government to reach out to immigrants once they arrive.

“What is unfortunately not strong enough is the way that we welcome people that decided to come here in Quebec,” he said Thursday morning.

The comments are drawing comparisons to those made by former PQ leader Jacques Parizeau after the 1995 referendum, in which he blamed “money and the ethnic vote” for the “Yes” side’s loss.

Peladeau denied there was any parallel to be drawn between his comments and those of Parizeau’s.

Political analyst Jean Lapierre said the remark is a major blunder for Peladeau.

“I think [the comments] will stick to him because this time, when a guy says ‘Let’s rush into a referendum to have our country because the immigrants are coming and people are aging,’ that’s pretty bad if you want to [rally people together]. Not only that, but the parallel with Jacques Parizeau is hurting [him],” he said.

Montreal Gazette columnist Don Macpherson said he’s more offended by the comments of the other leadership candidates than he is by what Peladeau said.

“[They] were members of the former Marois government, which was government that basically had a platform that was anti-minority. Less than a year ago they were running for re-election on that platform, and now they’re pretending that the PQ and the sovereignty movement are inclusive? Please, give me a break,” he said.

Post by Pierre Karl Péladeau.

-- with a file from The Canadian Press