A provincial Liberal politician is alleged to have fired obscenities at the Natural Resources minister during a closed door working session.

The Parti Quebecois says MNA Danielle St-Amand told the minister "va-chier" three times and called her a "crisse de folle" - the English equivalent of telling a person to "go f__ yourself" and calling someone a "f__ing fool."

A CAQ member who was present confirms that the MNA crossed the line.

"The atmosphere was incredibly tense. In 8 years of parliamentary work, I've never seen that in a working session," says Noëlla Champagne, a Parti Quebecois MNA present at the time.

No Report

The MNAs had been looking at how to help the local community after the Gentilly-2 shutdown. The closure had been particularly unpopular and sensitive in St-Amand's riding.

Now, the Parti Quebecois says it is pulling out of the working group.

There will be no report or recommendations, despite hearings on the subject.

"A lot of people in my riding worked hard on their arguments," a CAQ MNA for the local Nicolet-Bécancour riding. "The least we can do is produce a report," Donald Martel says.

He does agrees St-Amand's words were "completely unacceptable" and says she should apologize.

Pretext

But Martel also says the Parti Quebecois government had been cool to the idea of holding the committee hearings to begin with.

"She (St-Amand) gave the government all the excuses it needed not to table a report," he says.

Martel says he would understand if the PQ wants to remove St-Amand from the committee in order for work to continue. "I would have been OK with that to relax the working atmosphere," he says.

But, he wants the PQ to come back to the table.