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 in Quebec City at 10 a.m., followed by Fréchette’s appointment with Lieutenant-Governor Manon Jeannotte at 10:30 a.m. A news conference is set to take place at 11 a.m. post-meeting.
In adherence to the Quebec electoral system, the initiation of an election campaign necessitates the head of the government to request the lieutenant-governor — the King’s representative — to dissolve the National Assembly. The campaign period will span 39 days, culminating in the election day on Monday, Oct. 5.
Subsequent to the campaign launch, party leaders will embark on their respective campaign buses. Notably, this election will feature 127 ridings instead of the usual 125, thereby increasing the majority seat threshold to 64 seats. The upcoming government will mark the first time since 2018 that François Legault will not lead the province, having secured consecutive majority governments in 2018 and 2022.
Five primary party leaders will vie for leadership, including Christine Fréchette, who assumed office as premier in April after winning the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) leadership race. Fréchette, the MNA for the Sanguinet riding in Montreal’s South Shore, will run in her hometown of Trois-Rivières for the CAQ. She will face off against Parti Québécois’s (PQ) Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and the Quebec Liberal Party’s (PLQ) Charles Milliard, who is contesting from Orford in the Eastern Townships. Éric Duhaime of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) is running in Bellechasse in the Chaudière-Appalaches region, while Québec Solidaire’s (QS) Ruba Ghazal is seeking re-election in Montreal’s Mercier riding.
Although the PQ currently leads in the polls, public sentiment suggests minimal enthusiasm for a referendum, a key promise of the party’s first term agenda.