Quebec's Five Leaders Head Into First Debate of Short Campaign
Quebec's five party leaders will meet Tuesday evening for the first of two debates this week. All five will take part. Voters go to the polls on Oct. 5.
The leaders are Coalition Avenir Québec Leader Christine Fréchette, Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard, Québec solidaire spokesperson Ruba Ghazal and Quebec Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime, according to the most recent campaign report The Globe and Mail.
Fréchette and St-Pierre Plamondon paused public events until the first debate. The Parti Québécois will release the financial framework of its platform on Tuesday during the day, hours before the debate. The framework is a detailed budget that sets out what its promises would cost and how they would be paid for.
Milliard and Ghazal kept a public schedule on Monday morning. They visited Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital in Montreal. Duhaime spoke about immigration at a press conference in downtown Montreal.
The schedules follow a weekend of promises. Parties made pledges on transport, public safety and health care on Saturday CBC. Leaders also made new pledges on the economy and on violence against women as they prepared for the debate CBC.
Sovereignty, affordability and the trade war with the U.S. are among the top issues so far. Sovereignty is the question of whether Quebec should separate from Canada. The five leaders already appeared in a televised event where the trade war and sovereignty were the main focus CBC. CBC previewed the first debate with Le Devoir columnist Emilie Nicolas and political analyst Antonine Yaccarini.
Several broadcasts are planned. Québecor's Face-à-face debate is set for Sept. 15, hosted by Paul Larocque and shown on TVA, LCN, illico+ and QUB radio TVA Nouvelles. Radio-Canada had announced a leaders' debate for Sept. 23 and a 'Mordus de politique' special, in addition to meetings with party leaders. Its program 'Cinq chefs, une élection' has the main leaders answer questions from Sébastien Bovet, with a version also produced in LSQ, Quebec Sign Language Radio-Canada. There will be no English-language debate before the vote after two main parties declined to take part CBC.
The writ period, the formal campaign period, is short. Premier Fréchette visited the lieutenant-governor, the King's representative in Quebec, in Quebec City on Thursday morning to start the campaign. The 2026 campaign lasts 39 days. Elections Quebec says voters can now check their voting location for Oct. 5, must be registered on the electoral list with an up-to-date address, and invites schools, libraries and organizations to hold youth electoral simulations. People aged 16 or older can apply to work during the election.
The broader context here is straightforward for voters to follow. A cost plan released in the day and a debate in the evening puts a lot of scrutiny in one news cycle. Pausing events shows how the CAQ and the PQ prize debate preparation over daily visibility right now. With hospitals, immigration, transport and public safety in the mix alongside sovereignty, affordability and U.S. trade tensions, the debates will test which leader can explain Quebec and Ottawa's roles clearly to a francophone television audience.
