Quebec, this is your next premier. Here’s where the parties stand with fall election looming

Christine Fréchette is Quebec’s new premier-designate, chosen to lead the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) after François Legault stepped down.

It was the first time in 25 years that a Quebec premier had resigned, marking a major shakeup at the National Assembly at a time when several of the leading parties were already in flux.

As Fréchette gets set to lead the CAQ into the next election, the Quebec Liberal Party — which was leaderless just a few months ago — is making some serious noise in the latest polls.

Here’s a fresh look at where each party stands.

Liberals rise with new leader

For starters, the Quebec Liberals (PLQ) have acclaimed Charles Milliard as their new leader, forgoing the need for a second leadership race in less than one year.

This comes after Pablo Rodriguez resigned this past December amid a crisis involving allegations of vote-buying and reimbursed donations.

Milliard has never held public office but has been a member of the Quebec Liberals since 2010.

He has breathed new life into the party, which had fallen out of favour with large swaths of the francophone majority, with the provincial election scheduled for Oct. 5.

Recent polling suggests the Liberals have climbed back into favour, with the most recent Léger survey putting them ahead of the Parti Québécois for the first since the 2022 election — 33 per cent to 32.

The Léger survey of 1,036 voters was conducted from April 2 to 6 and published on April 11. A comparable random sample would have a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

PQ wins the byelections

Despite the resurgent Liberals, the Parti Québécois remains a major force, having won four consecutive byelections under Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, including the most recent in Chicoutimi.

“We are proposing that Quebecers form a true government where it’s the interests of the public that guide our decisions and not the mood of the moment or the polls of [the] day,” St-Pierre Plamondon said after Marie-Karlynn Laflamme took more than 45 per cent of the votes.

St-Pierre Plamondon, a staunch sovereigntist, admits his voters are concerned about holding a referendum while the Trump administration’s policies shake all of Canada.

But he has stood his ground, promising to hold a referendum in his first mandate should his party come into power in the next provincial election.

Conservatives have an MNA

Former CAQ minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina — after sitting as an Independent — crossed the floor and joined Quebec’s Conservative ranks.

She is now the Conservatives’ lone MNA. Until now, leader Éric Duhaime had to be invited by a sitting member to hold press briefings in the National Assembly.

The party failed to win a seat at the National Assembly in the 2022 provincial election despite securing 13 per cent of the popular vote. It also failed to pick up a seat in subsequent byelections.

Duhaime said his new team member represents a “large” number of Quebecers who hold fundamentally conservative values and who want a province that prioritizes the regions.

According to that same Léger poll, the Conservatives held 12 per cent of the intended vote.

Québec Solidaire slumping

While the Conservatives made progress, Québec Solidaire has been lagging. In 2022, the party, now 20 years old, won 11 seats and finished second in the popular vote, but now, Québec Solidaire is facing a new reality.

The party is struggling to reclaim the momentum that saw it finish second in the popular vote just four years ago.

While it successfully expanded its base in 2018 and 2022 by tapping into issues like climate change, early 2026 polls suggest the party would win only a handful of seats if an election were held today.

The party scored eight per cent in the Léger poll.

Economic pressure

In her victory speech, Fréchette said she would focus on protecting Quebec’s economy and helping families with the high cost of living.

These issues are likely to be top discussion points for all political parties heading into the election.

Last month, Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard delivered a modest budget as the province aims to withstand ongoing trade disruptions and mounting geopolitical pressure. 

With the CAQ leadership race out of the way, the National Assembly will return with a new session — and new premier — on May 5.

WATCH | A look back on Legault’s relationship with English-speaking Quebecers:

To anglophone Quebecers, was François Legault an enemy or a friend?

When François Legault’s relatively new political party took power for the first time back in 2018, he wanted to seduce English-speaking Quebecers. But after some legislative efforts during eight years in power left the Coalition Avenir Québec government at odds with anglophone interests, his legacy with the English-speaking community is a difficult one, to say the least.