The Parti Québécois has staged one of the biggest political comebacks in recent Quebec history, winning a minority government in Monday’s provincial election just four years after the party was reduced to three seats.
The PQ captured 59 seats in the 127-seat National Assembly, falling five short of the 64 needed for a majority. The result ends eight years of Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) rule, as voters opted for change.
Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, 49, will become premier. He acknowledged during his victory remarks that voters want parties to work together, and pledged to govern for all Quebecers, regardless of how they voted.
Fréchette Concedes
CAQ Premier Christine Fréchette, who took over the party’s leadership in April, conceded the election after losing her own Trois-Rivières seat to the Parti Québécois.
The Referendum Question
St-Pierre Plamondon won the PQ leadership in 2020 on a promise to hold a referendum on Quebec sovereignty if his party formed a government. He has said that promise stands, but that he won’t hold a vote before U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office in January 2029, citing political uncertainty.
Falling short of a majority means the PQ will need support from other parties to govern. Québec solidaire, which won nine seats and is also sovereigntist, is the most natural partner on that front. Together, the two sovereigntist parties captured more than 40 percent of the popular vote, with the PQ taking 28 percent and Québec solidaire about 12 percent.
Liberals Hold Official Opposition
The Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) will form the official opposition for the third consecutive election, winning 40 seats — nearly double the 21 it won in 2022.
Leader Charles Milliard, a businessman and pharmacist who was president of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec from 2020 to 2024, won his own seat in Orford. He took over the party’s leadership in February. Milliard has said the Liberals are the only federalist party committed to keeping Quebec within Canada.
Conservatives Break Through
The Conservative Party of Quebec won 19 seats and about 21 percent of the popular vote — a major jump for a party that captured less than two per cent of the vote in 2018. Leader Éric Duhaime won his Bellechasse riding, and the party’s caucus includes 23-year-old Éloïse Coulombe, the youngest MNA ever elected in the province.
The Conservatives’ breakthrough marks the first time the party has held seats in the legislature since 1935.
What Comes Next
With a minority government in place, the PQ will face an immediate test of how it can govern without a majority, and how quickly it can advance the sovereignty agenda it campaigned on. The Liberals now have the strongest opposition mandate they’ve held in years, and a surging Conservative caucus will have a bigger voice than in generations.
