Premier Christine Fréchette is scheduled to commence the provincial election campaign by meeting with Quebec’s lieutenant-governor on Thursday morning. The day’s agenda includes a cabinet meeting at 10 a.m. in Quebec City, followed by Fréchette’s meeting with Lieutenant-Governor Manon Jeannotte at 10:30 a.m. A news conference is set to be held at 11 a.m. after the meeting.
In compliance with Quebec’s electoral system, the initiation of an election campaign mandates the head of the government to request the lieutenant-governor — the King’s representative — to dissolve the National Assembly. The campaign is slated to span 39 days, culminating in the election day on Monday, Oct. 5.
Subsequent to the campaign kickoff, party leaders will embark on their respective campaign buses as they traverse the electoral landscape. Notably, this election cycle features 127 ridings instead of the previous 125, thereby increasing the majority threshold to 64 seats by one. For the first time since 2018, Quebecers will elect a government not led by François Legault, who secured consecutive majority governments in 2018 and 2022.
The five primary party leaders in the upcoming election include Christine Fréchette, who assumed office as an MNA in 2022 representing the Sanguinet riding on Montreal’s South Shore. She succeeded Legault as premier in April after clinching victory in the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) leadership race. Fréchette will contest in her hometown of Trois-Rivières, Que., for the CAQ.
She will face opposition from the Parti Québécois’s (PQ) Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who will seek re-election in the Camille-Laurin riding in eastern Montreal. Charles Milliard, representing the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ), is contesting in Orford in the Eastern Townships without a current seat. Éric Duhaime, from the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ), is also seatless and is running in Bellechasse in the Chaudière-Appalaches region south of Quebec City. Québec Solidaire’s (QS) Ruba Ghazal aims to secure Montreal’s Mercier riding for a third consecutive term.
Despite the Parti Québécois leading in the polls, there is minimal public enthusiasm for a referendum, a pledge the party has made for its initial term in office.