Jean-Francois Lisée upset his Parti Quebecois colleagues when he publicly criticized fellow MNA Bernard Drainville for his management of the Charter of Values debate.
The 30 PQ MNAs gathered this week for a secret meeting in the town of Scott, about half an hour south of Quebec City, to once again hash out what went wrong in the April 7 election, which saw the PQ reduced to its lowest percentage of the popular vote in the party's 45-year history.
The MNAs are trying to eliminate all bad blood before the National Assembly session begins on May 20.
Several told the Canadian Press that Lisée should have kept his criticisms behind closed doors, instead of publishing them on his well-read blog.
Francois Gendron, the longest-serving member of the National Assembly, said that MNAs should "always" resist the temptation to air their dirty laundry in public.
Matane representative Pascal Bérubé said he was doing just that, and urged his colleagues to speak only in private.
At their side the MNA for Vercheres, Stephane Bergeron, said that the party did have closed-door discussions about the quarrel between Lisée and Drainville.
Nobody quit the PQ because of the Charter
Analysts have long criticized the PQ for its continual infighting, and Jean Lapierre said this week's meeting--which the party tried to hold in secret--was another example of how fractious the party is.
"They tried to hide the whole thing because there are so many problems among themselves. It shows the extent of the problems they have right now as a caucus," said Lapierre.
Gazette columnist Don Macpherson agreed.
"Now the election didn't go as well as they hoped they're all turning on each other."
He said the PQ is now trying to cast the election as a rejection of the Charter of Values and retroactively blame Drainville for the division in stirred up in Quebec politics.
"The reality is that at the time they all went for this," said Macpherson. "Nobody resigned from the cabinet over the Charter."
With a file from The Canadian Press
