Published August 26, 2026 · Équipe Le Québec Vote
**Premier Christine Fréchette is to meet Quebec's Lieutenant Governor this Thursday to officially trigger the campaign leading to the October 5, 2026 general election. It is the first election campaign led by the CAQ leader, who succeeded François Legault in the spring, in a context where the Parti québécois has held the lead in voting intentions for several months.**
**A campaign unlike any other for the CAQ**
The calling of the campaign marks a pivotal moment for the Coalition avenir Québec. François Legault, who founded the party in 2011 and had been premier since 2018, had long suggested that he intended to lead his party into this election. Instead he announced his resignation in January 2026, after a series of departures from his cabinet and a sustained decline for the party in the polls. Christine Fréchette won the CAQ leadership race on April 12 and was sworn in as premier on April 15, becoming the second woman to lead a Quebec government.
According to Radio-Canada, Ms. Fréchette is to meet the Lieutenant Governor this Thursday to formalize the calling of the election, before starting her campaign tour in the Bas-Saint-Laurent, with stops planned in Rivière-du-Loup and Rimouski. La Presse also reports that she is to present commitments there on support for families, a way of responding directly to the proposals of Parti conservateur du Québec leader Éric Duhaime on that same issue.
**The Parti québécois in a strong but cautious position**
Since the start of the summer, several polling firms — including Léger and Synopsis-La Presse — have put the Parti québécois, led by Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, in the lead in voting intentions, ahead of the CAQ and a Parti libéral du Québec that itself held a leadership race earlier this year. A Synopsis-La Presse poll published on August 12 noted, however, that the rebound the CAQ began under Ms. Fréchette appeared to be running out of steam, without overturning the PQ lead.
**Five leaders, a vote with multiple stakes**
This campaign will pit against each other the leaders of the five main political parties present in the National Assembly: Christine Fréchette for the CAQ, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon for the Parti québécois, Charles Milliard for the Parti libéral du Québec, Ruba Ghazal for Québec solidaire, and Éric Duhaime for the Parti conservateur du Québec. Le Devoir recently devoted an analysis to the challenges specific to each of these leaders at the start of the campaign.
One event already on the election agenda is the leaders' debate, which is to be broadcast live on the Crave and Noovo platforms on September 16, about three weeks before voting day. A second debate is also scheduled for September 23 on Radio-Canada.
Between now and October 5, the parties will multiply announcements of candidacies and election platforms. The Parti québécois, for example, unveiled two new candidacies this week that La Presse presented as significant, a sign that the party is seeking to consolidate its poll lead before the official start of hostilities.
The calling of the campaign also means that the election rules governing party spending and advertising come into force, under the supervision of Élections Québec. The coming weeks will show whether the voting intentions measured this summer hold once voters are fully engaged in the campaign debate.
**An energy file in the background**
The context of this campaign is also marked by a recent agreement concerning Churchill Falls, announced in St. John's, an energy file that could become an issue to watch during the campaign. The details of this agreement and its potential impact on the parties' positioning, in particular that of the Parti québécois, remain to be documented with primary sources before firm conclusions can be drawn; this subject will be the subject of a separate follow-up.