When Mulroney learned about this, he called Bouchard into his office and fired him, though Bouchard long publicly insisted that he had resigned rather than support what he saw as a betrayal of Meech. It turned out that Bouchard had cut a deal with PQ leader Jacques Parizeau in which Bouchard would declare his support for sovereigntism; PQ leaders had told Bouchard that if Meech succeeded, it would mean the end of the PQ. Mulroney only learned of the deal when Parizeau revealed the plot in the early 2000s, and was angered to learn that Bouchard had "cooked up the deal with Parizeau while he was a member of my cabinet."