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OTTAWA — The potential for a national unity crisis to emerge out of the next Quebec provincial election has prompted Prime Minister Stephen Harper to do something he has hasn’t done for years:

Meet with former prime minister Brian Mulroney.Stephen Harper held a secret meeting in a Montreal hotel with Mulroney last week, The Canadian Press has learned, to seek advice on forming a better relationship with Quebec.

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He sought similar advice that same day from Liberal Premier Jean Charest, government sources said.

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The meetings came ahead of a planned Conservative rally in Quebec this weekend where the prime minister is going to try again to restart the stalled Tory machine in the province.

He needs to get it roaring not just to increase his paltry number of just five Quebec MPs.

A provincial by-election in Quebec last week saw the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois win a riding that’s been held by the Liberals for 46 years.