Quebec Premier Jean Charest. (QMI Agency File)

Quebec Liberal Leader Jean Charest brought up the "N" word Sunday in Quebec City.

Nordiques, that is.

He said if Quebecers elect a separatist government on Tuesday, it could hurt the province's chances of an NHL team returning to Quebec City.

Quebec City's economy is booming, Charest said, its unemployment rate in 2011 was 5.3% - well below the national and provincial average.

Charest said that the Parti Québécois is obsessed with a referendum and added that a vote on sovereignty brings with it economic instability.

"If I was in the place of (NHL commissioner) Gary Bettman, it would make sense to me that a city with full employment is a city where its citizens would be able to go see games," he said.

The Liberal government pledged to pay for half of the city's new $400 million arena.

Charest and PQ Leader Pauline Marois are expected to attend a groundbreaking ceremony together on Monday for the stadium, which is scheduled to be finished in 2015 - 20 years after the Nordiques left Quebec City and moved to Colorado.