The chief of the Parti Québécois says it’s time to refocus the political debate in Quebec to sovereignty following what he described as Premier François Legault’s failure to chart a constructive path for the province inside Canada.
Legault, who introduced his resignation on Wednesday, didn’t safe beneficial properties for Quebec in his greater than seven years in workplace, proving that the Québécois nation can’t be autonomous inside Canada, says PQ Chief Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
In co-founding the Coalition Avenir Québec in 2011, Legault had promised Quebecers a 3rd route — an alternative choice to the normal sovereigntist-federalist dichotomy. Legault’s occasion could be a coalition of sovereigntists and federalists, specializing in strengthening the Québécois id and economic system, and taking the prospect of a referendum off the desk.
“There isn’t any third manner doable in Canada,” St-Pierre Plamondon informed reporters in Quebec Metropolis on Friday. “It’s both the established order with the decline that comes with it, or independence — that’s the legacy. That will likely be François Legault’s legacy.”
Dealing with dismal polls, Legault stated he would resign as soon as his occasion chooses a brand new chief, acknowledging Quebecers desire a change of premier.
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St-Pierre Plamondon says Legault’s report in workplace reveals the CAQ’s strategy — come to be identified in Quebec because the “third manner” — has didn’t yield the mandatory enhancements for Quebecers. He stated Legault’s battles with the federal authorities for extra powers over immigration and elevated well being transfers yielded “complete failure.”
Calls for for a single tax return administered by the province and for Ottawa to abstain from courtroom challenges to the CAQ’s secularism regulation — which bans some public servants from sporting spiritual symbols on the job — have additionally been rejected, he stated.
“If François Legault wished to exhibit the necessity to put the sovereignty debate on maintain, effectively, he has in the end demonstrated the need of this debate,” St-Pierre Plamondon stated. “The truth that this debate on sovereignty is certainly a query of the survival of the nation is the one logical conclusion to be drawn from these calls for, all of which have been refused.”
The Parti Québécois has been main within the polls, and has promised to carry a referendum by 2030 if it varieties authorities within the provincial election set for October.
The PQ chief dismissed questions on whether or not a brand new chief might reinvigorate Legault’s occasion and threaten his possibilities of forming authorities. Nevertheless, he stated solely the voters might determine whether or not Legault’s political philosophy and the occasion he based would survive the chief’s departure.
St-Pierre Plamondon stated he’s hoping the election can occur earlier than Oct. 5 — Quebec has a fixed-date election regulation — to keep away from the legislature being paralyzed by Legault’s promise to resign as soon as his occasion names a successor.
Whereas no person has formally come ahead as a candidate, Economic system Minister Christine Fréchette and Finance Minister Eric Girard have each expressed curiosity in changing into CAQ chief.
Some legislature members have publicly referred to as on Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette to throw his hat within the ring. Jolin-Barrette, who ushered in Quebec’s secularism regulation and strengthened French-language laws, thanked his colleagues in a press release on Friday however didn’t make clear his intentions.
“I’m honoured to take a seat at your aspect within the nationwide meeting and to defend a powerful and bold imaginative and prescient of Quebec,” he wrote, with out indicating whether or not he’ll run.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
