DRUMMONDVILLE — Christine Fréchette has been elected leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec and will become the next premier of Quebec.
In a dramatic ending to a campaign that lasted 80 days, the party announced to a room of more than 1,000 supporters Sunday that Fréchette had defeated her lone opponent, Bernard Drainville.
The final result, however, was closer than many anticipated. Fréchette, who entered the campaign with a significant lead, bagged 57.9 per cent of the vote while 42.1 per cent went to Drainville.
The participation rate was 77.1 per cent. A total of 20,524 CAQ members were eligible to vote.
Fréchette, 56, the former minister of the economy, innovation and energy, becomes Quebec’s 33rd premier. Her title is premier-designate until the swearing-in ceremony.
She succeeds François Legault, who announced in January he would be stepping down before the end of his second mandate.
Fréchette is the second woman in history to become premier of Quebec. The first was Pauline Marois, who headed a minority government as leader of the Parti Québécois from 2012 to 2014.
Taking to the stage in a room where not everyone was cheering for her, following a campaign marked by animosity, Fréchette described her win as the start of a new era for the slumping CAQ.
“It’s spring,” she said. “It’s that time when we open the windows, when we let in the fresh air.”
She reached out to her opponent, who sat in the crowd off to the right of the stage. His applause was subdued.
“Bernard, we are going to need you,” Fréchette said. “Party unity is crucial.”
Drainville did not linger after his defeat, leaving the hall after Fréchette’s speech without talking to the media. Most of his supporters also slipped out quietly.
This is the second time Drainville has failed to obtain the leadership of a party. He ran in the 2015 Parti Québécois leadership race, but pulled out when it became clear Pierre Karl Péladeau would win.
Fréchette vowed to continue parts of Legault’s agenda on the economy and on identity issues, but with fresh eyes. She repeated plans to extend requirements of the Charter of the French Language to adult education and vocational training.
She did not include any English in the speech, or specifically reach out to the English-speaking community.
The loudest ovations came when she blasted her two main opponents in the looming election: Liberal Leader Charles Milliard and PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
Christine Fréchette waves before speaking to party members at an event where the Coalition Avenir Québec announced its new leader in Drummondville on Sunday, April 12, 2026. Fréchette was competing against Bernard Drainville to become party leader and premier. John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette
“In an unstable world, the last thing Quebec needs is more divisions,” Fréchette said. “Yet with the Liberals and the PQ, it is still the Yes (to independence) people versus the No.
“I want to address Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and Charles Milliard directly: Quebecers don’t want to go back in time. It’s not time to erect new borders or see fling-flangs with UPAC (the province’s anti-corruption unit, which has examined the allegations of irregular financing in last year’s Liberal leadership campaign that led to Pablo Rodriguez’s resignation).
“Gentlemen, I am telling you this right now: I won’t let you drag Quebec back in time 10 years. You will find me on your path.”
Milliard and St-Pierre Plamondon nevertheless congratulated Fréchette.
Je tiens à féliciter @CFrechette pour son élection à la tête de la Coalition Avenir Québec ainsi que pour son accession au poste de 33e première ministre du Québec. Avoir l’occasion de servir les Québécoises et les Québécois à ce niveau est le privilège d’une vie et je lui…
— Charles Milliard (@CharlesMilliard) April 12, 2026
Je tiens à féliciter madame @CFrechette pour sa victoire à la chefferie de la CAQ et pour son nouveau poste de première ministre. Les prochaines semaines lui réserveront une tâche colossale et je lui souhaite la meilleure des chances dans l’exercice de ses nouvelles fonctions.…
— Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (@PaulPlamondon) April 12, 2026
With limited time before the October election, Fréchette is expected to act swiftly in putting her new government in place, including appointing a chief of staff and key advisers.
After meeting with supporters in her hometown of Trois-Rivières Monday morning, Fréchette will hold a news conference in the afternoon in Quebec City to outline the road ahead.
She is expected to immediately act on one of her campaign promises and announce the government will remove tax from certain consumer items to ease the bills of Quebecers.
In his last budget in March, Finance Minister Eric Girard made provisions for $250 million a year for the new CAQ leader to implement some of their promises.
To officially become premier, Fréchette will have to be sworn in by Quebec’s lieutenant-governor. She will then form a new cabinet.
Fréchette has said she wants a smaller cabinet. There are 26 ministers now, including the premier.
She has promised Drainville a prominent place in her government, but has not been more specific.
She will also have to prepare an inaugural speech for the resumption of work at the National Assembly on May 5. And in the long term, she has to decide the fate of the dozen or so bills that died on the order paper when the legislature was prorogued last week.
One of the most controversial is Bill 1, establishing a Quebec constitution. While Drainville would not rule out the use of closure to force the bill into law, Fréchette has said it would be better to get the support of the opposition parties in adopting such a foundational document.
There are only five weeks of legislative session left before the house recesses June 12 for the summer and the start of the election campaign.
The new leader faces many hurdles, such as managing the exodus of CAQ MNAs who have decided not to run again, and trying to recruit new candidates at a time when the party is trailing badly in the polls.
The CAQ is a coalition of politicians with federalist and pro-independence leanings, so Fréchette will have to work to keep all the factions together.
Sunday’s convention, however, was also steeped in nostalgia, with a long farewell to Legault, who was in attendance.
Legault co-founded the CAQ in 2011 and has been its only leader until now.
“Today I am saying goodbye as leader of the CAQ,” an emotional Legault told the crowd. “I confess it’s hard. But it is to ensure the future.”
He had a parting message for CAQ members before Fréchette was announced as their new leader.
“It’s normal that a leadership race creates tensions,” Legault said. “The winning team will have to be generous and extend a hand. The losing team will have to accept that extended hand.
“It’s my last request to you as leader. Unite yourselves, because united, nothing is impossible. Fight on with pride.”
The party then offered Legault, who enjoys tennis, a gift: a racket signed by Félix Auger-Aliassime.
François Legault waves as he takes his seat prior to the naming of his successor as Coalition Avenir Québec leader and premier in Drummondville on Sunday, April 12, 2026. John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette
Bernard Drainville, flanked by CAQ ministers and campaign supporters Simon Jolin-Barrette and Sonia Bélanger, speaks before the naming of the new leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec in Drummondville on Sunday April 12, 2026. Drainville was competing against Christine Fréchette, who won the race to become party leader and premier. John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette
Sunday’s vote brought the curtain down on a campaign that got off to a slow start, but became more intense at the end when Drainville turned up the heat on Fréchette, who appeared to be the front-runner.
On Friday both sides said their internal polling showed they were ahead. Fréchette conceded Drainville had picked up steam following an endorsement by Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette in the last week of the campaign.
Part of the mystery of the race was due to the fact the two campaigns only managed to sell about 5,000 new membership cards.
The party did not reveal how many each camp sold, which means it was hard to tell which candidate benefited the most.
Most of the vote thus rested in the hands of the 15,000 pre-existing members of the party, and nobody quite knew what to expect from them.
Polls of people who say they vote CAQ indicated Fréchette was the favourite, but there was no way to tell whether those people held valid membership cards and whether they would actually vote.
One Léger poll done for the Fréchette campaign showed the CAQ’s standing among voters would climb with her as leader.
On Saturday, a new Léger poll done for Le Journal de Montréal revealed the CAQ under Fréchette would see its support move up to 18 per cent, putting the party in third place, but under Drainville’s leadership it would be in fifth place at eight per cent support.
Fréchette ended the campaign with the support of 41 CAQ caucus members, including 17 cabinet ministers. Drainville had the support of 20 caucus members, including four ministers. The value of such endorsements is hard to gauge.
While Fréchette had plenty of ministers behind her, Drainville seemed to have more political staffers with experience in the field.
As for political excitement, the two debates — one in Quebec City and the second in Laval — stood out.
While Drainville campaigned as the anti-status quo candidate, Fréchette sold herself as the steady hand at the helm that Quebec needs in troubled economic times.
They had different visions on identity issues, including immigration and the popular Programme de l’expérience québécoise.
Drainville claimed Fréchette was hiding that her plan to bring the PEQ back for two years would mean 125,000 more new arrivals in Quebec.
He also accused Fréchette of being slow to join the chorus of politicians who called for the resignation of Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau, in the wake of Rousseau’s English-only message of condolence following the crash at New York’s LaGuardia Airport that claimed the lives of two pilots last month.
Drainville also accused Fréchette of being indecisive.
Meanwhile, Fréchette accused Drainville of having flip-flopped many times, including when he ran in 2015 for the PQ leadership.
She also accused him of letting his ego get in the way of his judgment about the future of the third link between Quebec City and Lévis.
Editor’s Picks