MONTREAL — Former Parti Quebecois premier Pierre Marc Johnson is distancing himself from the party's referendum strategy and is supporting the Quebec Liberal candidate in an upcoming byelection.

Johnson says a PQ government would be wrong to begin preparing for another sovereignty referendum.

"The extraordinary accomplishments of two generations, despite our imperfect and incomplete constitutional status, should lead us to focus our collective energy on pretty obvious issues and not on a fourth referendum," Johnson said in a letter published Friday in Montreal La Presse.

Johnson said politicians should be concentrating more on economic issues, including productivity and the challenges of globalization.

Johnson became Quebec premier and leader of the PQ in 1985 after Rene Levesque's resignation but he was defeated by Robert Bourassa's Liberals in the election later that year.

Hardline sovereigntists turned on Johnson and his moderate nationalist stance and he eventually was dumped in 1987 before being replaced by Jacques Parizeau.

PQ hardliners have never warmed to Johnson over the years and some delegates to the party's recent leadership convention booed when his photo was shown on a giant screen.

In his letter, Johnson also expressed his support for Liberal candidate Raymond Bachand in a Dec. 12 byelection in the Montreal riding of Outremont.

Bachand, a former sovereigntist who worked for Levesque and Johnson, has been friends with Johnson for 40 years.

At least one of Johnson's former PQ colleagues did not appear too impressed with her former leader's comments.

"Mr. Johnson was obviously a strong supporter of the 'beau risque' of federalism, which turned out to be a trap," Louise Harel, the PQ's interim leader until Andre Boisclair's victory on Nov. 15, said in Quebec City.

"The only 'beau risque' we have left now is that of Quebec sovereignty."

Harel was referring to the term used in the 1980s to describe Levesque's strategy of putting independence on the back burner and giving Brian Mulroney's Conservatives a chance to bring Quebec into the constitutional fold.

Federalist politicians were jubilant, however, with Johnson's comments.

"That makes me feel good because it shows that Mr. Johnson has now come to the realization that Canada is a good country and that the prospect of another referendum would be detrimental not only to Canada but to Quebec and Quebecers," said federal Transport Minister Jean Lapierre.

"Mr. Johnson is a very well-travelled person. He has had a lot of time to reflect upon the situation in Quebec and in Canada. He's telling our citizens now that Canada has to remain whole."

In Kelowna, B.C., Jean Charest also seized on Johnson's remark.

"Raymond Bachand's story is the story of hundreds of thousands of Quebecers who don't want another referendum and believe that we can build Quebec within Canada," Charest said on his way into the first ministers' conference on aboriginal issues.

"Well beyond his own experiences, he's come to the conclusion that our government is succeeding in allowing this federation to evolve."