diff --git a/pelican/tools/templates/tasks.py.jinja2 b/pelican/tools/templates/tasks.py.jinja2
index 0f25953f..b65f01d2 100644
--- a/pelican/tools/templates/tasks.py.jinja2
+++ b/pelican/tools/templates/tasks.py.jinja2
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 import os
+import shlex
 import shutil
 import sys
 import datetime
@@ -8,6 +9,7 @@ import datetime
 from invoke import task
 from invoke.main import program
 from invoke.util import cd
+from pelican import main as pelican_main
 from pelican.server import ComplexHTTPRequestHandler, RootedHTTPServer
 from pelican.settings import DEFAULT_CONFIG, get_settings_from_file
 
@@ -151,4 +153,4 @@ def gh_pages(c):
 
 def pelican_run(cmd):
     cmd += ' ' + program.core.remainder  # allows to pass-through args to pelican
-    pelican_main(cmd.split(' '))
+    pelican_main(shlex.split(cmd))