Quebec voters will face a strikingly different lineup of party leaders in the next provincial election.
Three of the five main parties are led by newcomers — including two women — and polls suggest the political order that shaped the last election has shifted.
The governing party that won two successive majorities is in steep decline, while two parties that once struggled in the polls are now locked in a tight race for first place. And vote-splitting could make the final result unpredictable.
The Oct. 5 election will usher in a generational shift: all the leaders were born in the late 1960s or later, making them all Generation X.
Here’s a look at who is vying to lead the province.
Christine Fréchette, Coalition Avenir Québec
Christine Fréchette takes to the stage after being named the new leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec and premier-designate in Drummondville on Sunday, April 12, 2026. She will be the second woman to hold the office of Quebec premier. John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette
Background: Born in Trois-Rivières in 1970, Christine Fréchette is an international relations graduate who served as president of the Chambre de commerce de l’Est de Montréal.
Politics: On Sunday, Fréchette was chosen to be the CAQ’s new leader, replacing François Legault and automatically becoming premier-designate. She will be the second woman to hold the post, and the first premier from Gen X after many years of baby boomers. First elected in 2022, Fréchette immediately joined the cabinet, holding several top portfolios, including economy and immigration. Before joining the CAQ, she was deputy chief of staff to Parti Québécois minister Jean-François Lisée. But she left that party over its proposed Charter of Values, championed by Bernard Drainville. Fréchette has said she supports the CAQ’s own secularism law, known as Bill 21.
Polls: A recent Léger survey found that the CAQ could improve its fortunes under Fréchette, placing the party in third place rather than fifth.
Policies: In the CAQ leadership campaign, Fréchette framed herself as the fiscally credible candidate, backed by Finance Minister Eric Girard. Unlike Legault, she said she would oppose large subsidies for foreign multinationals. She promised to extend the Programme de l’expérience québécoise for two years as a transitional measure for workers already in Quebec.
Language: Fréchette says the Charter of the French Language, commonly known as Bill 101, should apply to adult education and vocational training, which would result in 10,000 more people graduating in French and “more inclined to live in French,” she has said. Acknowledging that anglophones were unhappy with CAQ language policies, Fréchette said she intends “to have a discussion, a dialogue” with English-speaking Quebecers. “They are part of Quebec.”
Referendum: Fréchette has declined to say how she would vote in a Quebec referendum. “I say we must prevent a referendum process from taking place in Quebec,” she said last month. She said she sees herself as a Quebec nationalist within the Canadian federation. “Hating Canada is not a blueprint for a society. Being on our knees before the federal government is not, either.”
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, Parti Québécois
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has led the Parti Québécois since 2020, making him the longest-serving of the five leaders. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette files
Background: Born in Trois-Rivières in 1977, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is a lawyer with degrees from McGill University and Oxford University in England.
Politics: Once an adviser to Parti Québécois Leader Jean-François Lisée, St-Pierre Plamondon has led the PQ since 2020, making him the longest-serving of the five leaders. He was elected to the National Assembly in 2022 in an election that was devastating for the PQ. It came in fourth, with just three MNAs — its worst result in terms of seats.
Polls: St-Pierre Plamondon has revived the PQ, with polls often placing the party in first place for more than two years as Quebecers soured on the CAQ. But the Liberals are now nipping at the PQ’s heels. St-Pierre Plamondon’s vow to hold a referendum has become a drag on support amid economic uncertainty fuelled by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Policies: Since the fall, the PQ has focused heavily on building its case for sovereignty, releasing reports on how Quebec’s currency and citizenship would work, and arguing that an independent Quebec would become “a rich country.” On immigration, the party wants to reduce levels and tighten French-language requirements, while maintaining limited temporary foreign labour in key sectors such as agriculture.
Language: Protecting the French language is a core value for the PQ, which enacted the Charter of the French Language in 1977. The party has reached out to the overwhelmingly federalist anglophone community, going so far as to run English pro-independence TV ads in 2024. “I hope I will convince anglophones to be 100 per cent Quebecers,” St-Pierre Plamondon said in November. “We are in the same boat, in the same society, and we’re dealing with the same problems and we’re dealing with the same absurd Canadian policies.”
Referendum: St-Pierre Plamondon has promised a referendum in his first mandate. He recently said he could wait until after Trump’s term ends in January 2029 — by which point the PQ would have been in power for more than two years.
Charles Milliard, Quebec Liberal Party
The least-known of the Quebec party leaders, Charles Milliard’s arrival has helped revive Liberal fortunes. Pierre Obendrauf / Montreal Gazette files
Background: Born in Lévis in 1979, Charles Milliard is a pharmacist and MBA holder who was an executive in the Uniprix pharmacy chain and led the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec.
Politics: A Liberal since the 1990s, Milliard has no experience in public office. He was acclaimed Liberal leader in February after Pablo Rodriguez quit over allegations of questionable financing within the party. Milliard had narrowly lost to Rodriguez in the previous leadership race.
Polls: The least-known leader, Milliard’s arrival has helped revive Liberal fortunes, with some surveys suggesting the party is tied with the Parti Québécois for first place. However, the PQ has broad support among francophones across Quebec, while Liberal support is still largely concentrated among non-francophones and in the Montreal region. Despite assertions the party would never recover among francophones, support in that segment of the population has grown to 23 per cent in a recent Léger poll, up from six per cent under former leader Dominique Anglade.
Policies: In his leadership campaigns, Milliard positioned himself as the economic candidate who would bolster Quebec’s regions, reduce taxes for small and medium-size businesses and help his party reconnect with the francophone voters it would need to win government.
Language: Milliard last year said he would “change some of the articles on Bill 96,” the CAQ’s overhaul of the Charter of the French Language. He has criticized the clause requiring immigrants to only communicate with the government in French six months after their arrival, and has complained that the law puts a burden on small and medium-size businesses. Milliard has also said he plans to “reconnect” with anglos, “taken for granted for way too many years” by the Liberals.
Referendum: An unambiguous federalist, Milliard is the only leader who hasn’t at one point worked with a separatist party. He says he would be ready to lead a No campaign. “If by chance there was a No-side bus to drive, the only person who has a licence to drive it, to lead the troops to safe harbour in a clear and reliable way, is me and the Liberal Party of Quebec,” Milliard said in February.
Ruba Ghazal, Québec solidaire
Québec solidaire has chosen co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal to be its candidate for premier and to participate in leaders’ debates. Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press files
Background: Born in Lebanon in 1977, Ruba Ghazal has degrees in business administration and the environment.
Politics: First elected in 2018, Ghazal is the MNA for the Montreal riding of Mercier for Québec solidaire. She is the party’s co-spokesperson with Sol Zanetti — and the party has chosen her to be its candidate for premier and to participate in leaders’ debates.
Polls: A pro-sovereignty party, Québec solidaire won the third-most seats in the last election — 11, compared to just three for the PQ. But in the ensuing years, QS has lost momentum, with recent surveys placing it near the bottom of the pack even as the PQ soared.
Policies: Decidedly left-wing, the party promotes an inclusive Quebec and has focused on the cost of living, housing, health care, education and social justice.
Language: QS pledges to ensure the “real predominance” of French across collective life, with stricter workplace francization measures, while promising that this will not come at the expense of Indigenous languages and the anglophone community. The party says “historic anglophones” are an “integral part of the Quebec nation and share its political destiny.”
Referendum: The party promotes an “inclusive nationalism.” It says Quebec independence is necessary and federalism cannot be reformed. “The people of Quebec must choose: Submit to the Canadian majority and be subordinated and homogenized, or fully exercise their political sovereignty,” says the party policy program adopted last year. However, a March Léger survey found 61 per cent of QS supporters would vote No in a referendum.
Éric Duhaime, Conservative Party of Quebec
In the 2022 election, Conservative Party of Quebec Leader Éric Duhaime pledged to repeal Bill 96. John Kenney / Montreal Gazette files
Background: Born in 1969 in Montreal, Éric Duhaime has degrees in political science and public administration and rose to prominence as a commentator on talk radio and a columnist at Le Journal de Montréal.
Politics: Duhaime has never held elected office, but he has worked with many parties, including the PQ, the Bloc Québécois and the Canadian Alliance, which later merged with the federal Conservatives. He ran unsuccessfully for Action démocratique du Québec, which eventually merged with the Coalition Avenir Québec. As leader of the Quebec Conservatives since 2021, Duhaime has twice run, including in a byelection last year, and failed to win a seat. Last month, former CAQ MNA Maïté Blanchette Vézina joined the Conservatives, giving the party a seat in the National Assembly.
Polls: Despite a strong showing, the Conservatives did not win any seats in the 2022 election. Duhaime has edged up in the surveys since then, with poll watchers suggesting he has a real chance at winning seats in the Quebec City and Beauce regions this time.
Policies: Duhaime promotes a market-driven economy and emphasizes fiscal discipline. He wants to cut the size of the public service and decrease red tape for entrepreneurs.
Language: In the 2022 election, Duhaime pledged to repeal Bill 96. He said the CAQ’s comprehensive overhaul of the Charter of the French Language did little to protect French and divided francophones and anglophones. He is again appealing to anglophones, and polls suggest he is the second choice among non-francophones, though still far behind the Liberals.
Referendum: Duhaime has vowed not to hold a sovereignty referendum, but he recently refused to say whether he would vote No should one be held in the coming years. That’s in contrast to his position in 2022, when he told a crowd that he would “absolutely” vote against sovereignty.
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