Premier Christine Fréchette is scheduled to kick off the provincial election campaign in Quebec by meeting with Lieutenant-Governor Manon Jeannotte on Thursday morning. The campaign launch will begin with a cabinet meeting in Quebec City at 10 a.m., followed by Fréchette’s meeting with Jeannotte at 10:30 a.m. A news conference is planned for 11 a.m. post-meeting.
In compliance with the Quebec electoral system, the premier needs to request the lieutenant-governor, who represents the King, to dissolve the National Assembly to initiate the election campaign. The campaign will span 39 days, with election day set for Monday, October 5th.
Subsequent to the campaign launch, party leaders will embark on their campaign buses. This election cycle will see 127 ridings, as opposed to the previous 125, necessitating 64 seats for a majority win, an increase of one seat. This election marks the first time since 2018 that François Legault will not lead the government, having secured consecutive majority wins in 2018 and 2022.
The five main party leaders vying in the election include Christine Fréchette from the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), who succeeded Legault as premier in April. Fréchette, an MNA since 2022 representing the Sanguinet riding on Montreal’s South Shore, will contest in her hometown of Trois-Rivières. The Parti Québécois’s (PQ) Paul St-Pierre Plamondon will run in the Camille-Laurin riding in eastern Montreal. Charles Milliard of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) and Éric Duhaime of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) are both without seats and running in Orford and Bellechasse respectively. Québec Solidaire’s (QS) Ruba Ghazal aims for a third consecutive win in Montreal’s Mercier riding.
Although the PQ leads in the polls, there is minimal public desire for a referendum, a promise the party aims to fulfill in its first term.
