Former Parti Québécois leader Pierre Karl Péladeau says a political comeback is not out of the question if the struggling party, and Quebec, call upon him.
“Je suis en réserve de la Republique [I'm in reserve for the Republic],” he told an interviewer on Radio-Canada Tuesday morning, who also asked him point-blank whether he planned to return to politics. "God only knows!" he said. "Quitting politics was never my wish!"
PKP spent a few days short of a full year as PQ leader from May 2015 to May 2016, saying he was leaving for family reasons. During his term, he married, and then split from, his longtime partner, television host Julie Snyder. They have two children together.
Now, he says, things are different — among other things, he says he and Snyder now have shared custody of the kids.
He also suggested his oldest child, daughter Romy, casually suggested he run again for office while they were watching television. "I don't know if I'll follow her advice. But things change."
Since the last PQ government under Pauline Marois was defeated by the Liberals in 2014, the party held two leadership contests — the one which elected Péladeau in 2015, and the one that elected current PQ leader Jean-François Lisée a year later.
During that time, the PQ has struggled in public opinion polls, becoming the third-place party behind the Liberals and the Coalition Avenir Québec.