Party Leaders Respond to Blanchet’s ‘Artificial Country’ Comments on Last Weekend Before Election Day

(L-R) Debate moderator Steve Paikin, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Liberal Leader Mark Carney, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet pose for a group photo ahead of the English federal leaders' debate in Montreal on April 17, 2025. Adrian Wyld/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

While campaigning during the last weekend before election day on April 28, the federal party leaders responded to comments made by Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, who called Canada an “artificial country.”

Replying to a reporters’ question at an April 25 news conference in Shawinigan, Que., Blanchet said Canada is an “artificial country with very little meaning.”