Fréchette Resigns as CAQ Leader After Governing Party Strikes Out in Quebec Election

Coalition Avenir Quebec Leader Christine Frechette waves to employees looking down from the second flloor as she announces her resignation in a post election news conference at the premier’s office in Quebec City on Oct. 6, 2026. The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot

Christine Fréchette says she has given in her resignation as leader of Quebec’s governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), following the Oct. 5 provincial election in which her party failed to gain a single seat.

The Parti Québécois (PQ) will form a minority government after winning 59 seats in the Quebec election, five short of the 64 needed for a majority government, with the Quebec Liberals winning 40 seats, the Quebec Conservatives 19, and Québec solidaire nine.

“Last night, you made your position clear. You chose to entrust the government to another team. I accept that choice, and as leader, I take responsibility for it,” Fréchette said in French Oct. 6 in the foyer of the National Assembly in Quebec City.

“So today, I have submitted my resignation as leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec.”

Fréchette entered politics in 2012, working as a political staffer for the PQ until 2014, before going on to work in economic development, public affairs, and media.

She reentered politics years later and was elected to the National Assembly as a CAQ MNA in Quebec’s 2022 provincial election representing the riding of Sanguinet in the Montérégie region of southern Quebec.

Fréchette went on to serve in the CAQ cabinet of former Premier François Legault, including as minister of immigration and later minister of the economy, innovation, and energy.

Fréchette announced her run to lead CAQ in January 2026 when Legault said he would step down amid weak showing in the polls. She won the contest over former then-education minister Bernard Drainville with 57.9 percent of the vote and was inaugurated as leader and Quebec premier April 15.

During the election, Fréchette focused on boosting Quebec’s economy and taking a tough stance in the face of U.S. tariffs and in opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as stating she would improve affordability, protect the French language, more fully develop Quebec’s hydroelectric power, and oppose another referendum on Quebec’s separation from Canada.

PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, whose party supports Quebec sovereignty, vowed during the election not to hold a separation referendum until Trump is out of office.

Under CAQ’s constitution, a leadership convention must be called within six months of the leadership role being vacated and an interim leader must be appointed without delay. The next permanent party leader will be chosen by party members via a secret ballot.