Fréchette or Drainville: Political analyst breaks down CAQ leadership race
Posted January 26, 2026 11:57 am.
Last Updated January 26, 2026 4:08 pm.
The race for the CAQ leadership is officially on.
Now former Environment Minister Bernard Drainville and former Energy and Economy Minister Christine Fréchette are facing off to replace François Legault for the party’s top seat.
READ: Legault shuffles cabinet as two ministers announce run for CAQ leadership
Breaking it all down for CityNews is political analyst Karim Boulos.
What do these two candidates bring to the table that’s new for the CAQ?
From the point of view of new, I think, Mme. Fréchette brings a very strong economic focus to the table. Mme. Fréchette is currently economy minister, well-spoken, well-versed and understands the mechanisms. She’s seen as a bit of a technocrat, has experience in large bureaucracies, but Quebec, governing a province requires understanding of a large bureaucracy. And I think the focus that Mme. Fréchette would bring would be somewhere along the lines of job creation. If we’re looking at a nationalist position, what is Quebec’s strength? What are Quebec’s challenges? How does Quebec face Ottawa with regards to funding, distribution of resources and so on? So I think she’d be a strong voice for growing the economy, increasing business, looking at taxation, looking at job creation. And so that would be a definite shift in the economy.
And some would criticize that as more Liberal-sounding policies; Liberals having always been the party of the economy, of business, of growth across Quebec.
As for Mr. Drainville, he’s not without controversy. Having been the architect of the Charter of Values as a member of the Parti Québécois, he’s held many cabinet positions. He’s held many ministries. But he has had some missteps, a number of missteps. His flip flop on the Troisième lien in Quebec City… It’s ironic. He’s environment minister, and his famous line two years ago, ‘lachez moi avec vos gaz à effet de serre,’ you know, ‘give me a break with your greenhouse gases emissions’ – not something you hear from an environment minister. And again, he is not one to be focused on the economy. He’s a former journalist, a former identity-oriented individual talking about Quebec, what it is to be a Quebecer.
Yet he is not without his share of controversy, including some violations to the elections act, all very minor. But he has been in the headlines for many years, well over a decade. So he might be a more risky choice, let’s say, for Quebecers.
Over the weekend, Mme. Fréchette said she wanted to reach out to anglophones, saying that she wanted to have a dialogue with them. How do you interpret that messaging?
Well, given that it’s similar to what her positions on the economy and growth, I think she needs to reach out to that base, the Montreal liberal base, the people who are very dissatisfied and disenchanted with the CAQ in some of the outlying areas.
So her job is to avoid alienating Quebecers of all stripes any further than the current administration has over the last eight years.
As opposed to Mme. Fréchette, you also had Mr. Drainville, when he launched his campaign, saying he’d be fighting for a strong francophone nation. Now, you’ve touched upon this before, but what are the key differences between these two candidates?
Well, really, he’s about identity and she’s about the economy. If it comes down to a simple, one-word answer.
And so his is about an identity comment or question. Well, Mme. Fréchette is more pragmatic, results-oriented, economy-based. ‘Let’s make sure people have money in their pocket. Families are safe and secure. And we can talk about national issues later.’
Both of these candidates are trying to fill the shoes of a premier who was extremely unpopular for a very long time. What do you think is key for both of these candidates when they are trying to fill the shoes of François Legault?
At this point, the gaffe after gaffe after gaffe and the insistence that everything is still fine, hurt Mr. Legault. So I think both candidates are going to have to, in their own respect, pick which direction they want to focus and which kind of voter they want to appeal to and make sure to avoid mentioning Mr. Legault’s name, any chance they can.
The new leader of the CAQ and next premier of Quebec will be chosen after the leadership race ends April 12.
