CAQ premier-elect Christine Frechette celebrates while giving remarks after winning the CAQ leadership race, in Drummondville, Que., on Sunday.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
The Coalition Avenir Québec has chosen former minister Christine Fréchette to be its new leader, anointing her the province’s next premier as the governing party faces possible annihilation in a provincial election likely to be fought over a third referendum on sovereignty.
Ms. Fréchette is promising to breathe new life into a party that rose to power on a promise to set aside a decades-long debate on Quebec independence. Its collapse in the polls in recent years has been accompanied by a resurgence in support for the sovereigntist Parti Québécois.
Chosen during the CAQ’s leadership convention on Sunday, the former Quebec economy minister will attempt to resurrect the party with just months to go before a provincial election scheduled for October. She will replace François Legault, who announced his resignation as CAQ leader and Premier in January after seven and a half years in power.
Ms. Fréchette, first elected to the National Assembly in 2022, is pledging to bolster Quebec’s economy at a time of global uncertainty. She claimed nearly 58 per cent of the vote at the convention in Drummondville, Que., defeating her only rival, former environment minister Bernard Drainville.
“We need to protect our economy because the world today is unstable,” she said in a victory speech. “The United States has become unpredictable. The rules are constantly changing, and we must protect our businesses and defend our interests.”
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Ms. Fréchette promised to “reduce the pressure” on families by tackling the rising cost of living and cutting red tape. She said the province must make intelligent use of its hydro, forestry and mineral resources.
But she garnered the biggest cheers from party members when she turned her remarks to the Parti Québécois and the Liberals, accusing them of reviving the “same old constitutional squabbles.”
“What Quebeckers certainly don’t need is more division,” she said.
Ms. Fréchette has had a long career in business and politics, including a stint as a Parti Québécois staffer under the province’s only other female premier, Pauline Marois, who served from 2012 to 2014. Before running for the CAQ in 2022, she was president of a chamber of commerce in eastern Montreal. She served as immigration minister before taking over the economy portfolio in 2024.
She has focused her campaign on protecting Quebec’s economy, and devoted little of her speech on Sunday to the identity issues that have partly defined Mr. Legault’s tenure, including secularism and protection of the French language.
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Mr. Legault co-founded the Coalition Avenir Québec in 2011 as a nationalist party that would not endorse a referendum on independence, and has been its only leader until now. When he led the party in 2018 to form the first of two majority governments, he said Quebeckers had left behind the debate on sovereignty that had dominated the province’s politics for 50 years.
“Remember that we have changed Quebec,” Mr. Legault said in a speech to the convention on Sunday. “Be proud of what we have done.”
This year’s election seems likely to restore the old rivalry between the Liberals and the Parti Québécois, which has promised to hold a third referendum on independence in a first mandate. The two parties are neck-and-neck in the polls, though the Liberals are well behind among francophone voters. Poll aggregator Qc125 shows the CAQ could lose every one of its 80 seats if an election were held today.
On Saturday, a new Leger poll found Ms. Fréchette could slightly boost her party’s fortunes in the next provincial election. The survey found that 18 per cent of respondents said they would vote for the CAQ with Ms. Fréchette as leader, up from 13 per cent under Mr. Legault. But the party still trailed far behind the PQ and the Liberals.
The survey polled 1,036 Quebeckers between April 2 and April 6, and cannot be assigned a margin of error as participants were recruited from an online panel.
Members of the CAQ are staying realistic about what is possible for the party in the next election, said political analyst Raphaël Melançon. Retaining the 12 seats that would give them official party status in Quebec’s National Assembly would be a victory, he said.
“They are most of all looking for someone who will make sure that it’s not a total collapse or total annihilation,” said Mr. Melançon. “Beyond that would be really fantasizing.”
Ms. Fréchette appeared to have a strong lead over Mr. Drainville from the start of the campaign, attracting more endorsements from ministers and backbenchers. While Ms. Fréchette has been more associated with the CAQ’s focus on the economy, Mr. Drainville has been more closely linked to the party’s identity policies, including tighter rules on secularism.
“I think the major thing that she can bring to the party is a breath of fresh air,” Mr. Melançon said.
On Sunday, Mr. Legault urged the two sides to come together after the vote. “Because united, nothing is impossible,” he said.