It was another day off-message on the campaign trail for the Parti Quebecois, as Jean-Francois Lisee had to answer questions about his former colleague Guy Leclair.

Leclair officially withdrew his candidacy from the Oct. 1 election late Wednesday night, saying his decision came from not wanting to harm the PQ by diverting attention away from the campaign.

Lisee spent some time in the fertile farmland south of Montreal, promising measures to help farmers buy or retain their property, as many are now priced out of reach for agricultural activity.

The PQ is also promising that if elected, government institutions would be required to buy at least half their food from Quebec producers.

“If American food distributors want to sell their food to our institutions, they'll have to buy it from Quebec farms,” he said.

Lisee also faced of questions about the resignation of Leclair, his candidate in the Beauharnois riding, who came under fire after it was discovered he was arrested in July for drunk driving. Leclair denies the allegation.

“He came to the conclusion that he's in this for the team, the ideas, Quebec, and he came to the conclusion that the best way to help the team was to withdraw. So it was a very noble gesture on his part,” said Lisee.

When asked if Leclair was a liability for his party, Lisee said: “I could see that within the media space, it took a lot of space.”

It's the second time in a week that the PQ had to defend a problematic candidate, following offensive tweets by Mercier candidate Michelle Blanc.

Despite this new controversy the PQ leader insisted the problem is not with the vetting process within the party.

“We are in real time. Her previous tweets, the previous tweets of everybody in the campaign have been vetted,” he said.