Premier Christine Fréchette is scheduled to kick off 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 take place at 11 a.m. following the meeting.
To commence the election campaign, the Quebec electoral process mandates the head of government to request the lieutenant-governor, representing the King, to dissolve the National Assembly. The campaign is slated to span 39 days, culminating in the election day on Monday, Oct. 5.
After the campaign launch, party leaders will embark on their campaign buses. This election cycle features 127 ridings, an increase from the previous 125, raising the majority seat requirement to 64. Notably, this election marks the first time since 2018 that François Legault will not lead the government, having previously secured consecutive majority mandates in 2018 and 2022.
Among the five main party leaders, Christine Fréchette, who assumed office as an MNA in 2022 for the Sanguinet riding on Montreal’s South Shore, took over as premier in April after winning the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) leadership race. She will be contesting in her hometown of Trois-Rivières. Fréchette faces competition from Parti Québécois’s (PQ) Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who is running in the Camille-Laurin riding in eastern Montreal.
Charles Milliard, representing the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ), is vying for a seat in Orford in the Eastern Townships. Éric Duhaime, of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ), is running in Bellechasse in the Chaudière-Appalaches region. Québec Solidaire’s (QS) Ruba Ghazal is seeking reelection in Montreal’s Mercier riding for the third consecutive time.
Although the Parti Québécois (PQ) leads in current polls, polling data indicates a limited public interest in a referendum, a key promise by the party for its first term.