Quebec election advance polls open Sunday and Monday as campaigns intensify foreign-interference claims

Quebec's provincial election enters its final stretch with advance polls opening Sunday and Monday and October 5 set as election day. All five major parties are campaigning heavily as voting nears.

Foreign interference dominated Friday's campaign messaging. Coalition Avenir Québec Leader Christine Fréchette said she is concerned Americans are trying to support the Parti Québécois to destabilize Canada. Fréchette said a U.S.-based think tank has published essays urging Americans to interfere in Canadian politics and that her party contacted the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. CSIS arranged a meeting with Fréchette last Wednesday. She also said American officials tried to reach out to her government earlier in the year to negotiate a trade agreement, which she declined, calling a direct U.S.-Quebec trade deal "unthinkable."

PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon dismissed the warnings, saying he has "not been contacted by American officials" and has "not seen proof of interference." Federal Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she had not seen proof of foreign interference in the election but is taking allegations seriously.

On other campaign themes, Liberal Leader Charles Milliard accused St-Pierre Plamondon of being stubborn for planning to significantly reduce the number of immigrants. St-Pierre Plamondon spent Thursday in meetings, including with Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada at city hall.

Fréchette's rivals were skeptical about her foreign interference warnings, but the allegations have injected a new variable into the race's final weeks.