MONTREAL - The relationship between the Bloc Quebecois and the Parti Quebecois would not be set in cement if Maria Mourani becomes leader.
The BQ leadership candidate said that she would not promise to support the PQ in provincial elections if she became leader.
The MP for Ahuntsic said that Bloc members themselves would be allowed to choose what party to support.
Mourani made the comments at a BQ leadership debate Tuesday held in front of about 300 party supporters and re-broadcast on the Internet.
Candidate Daniel Paille, a onetime Jacques Parizeau cabinet minister, disagreed with Mourani, saying that the Bloc and the sovereignty movement must speak with a single, unified voice.
"How will reducing the PQ's seats help it get a majority?" asked Paille. "Do the math, it doesn't work."
Jean-François Fortin, the third candidate, accused Mourani of trying to turn the Bloc into a federalist party which would be satisfied with Quebec remaining as a province.
Mourani, who along with Fortin constitute half of the BQ caucus in Ottawa, denied the charge.
In an earlier debate, Mourani recommended new constitutional negotiations but her opponents rejected the idea.
The BQ's unexpected collapse in the springtime federal election led longtime leader Gilles Duceppe to resign and several polls have since suggested that the party still trails well behind the upstart NDP.
It was the third straight Tuesday that the three have gone toe to toe in quest for the leadership, which will be decided by vote December 11 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Montreal.
With a file from The Canadian Press
