Fréchette’s CAQ win prompts PQ pitch to nationalist voters
Posted April 13, 2026 12:55 pm.
Last Updated April 13, 2026 12:56 pm.
“Nationalists, welcome home.” The day after Christine Fréchette’s victory as leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), Parti Québécois (PQ) leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is reaching out to supporters of defeated candidate Bernard Drainville.
In a post on social media platform X on Monday, he wrote: “At the Parti Québécois, we firmly believe that Quebecers have the right to make their own choices freely, whether for the flourishing of their language, their culture, their model of living together or sound public finances.”
“To all nationalists committed to defending Quebec values, your place is with the Parti Québécois. Our door is wide open,” he added.
For the PQ leader, the “third way” embodied by the CAQ “has shown its limits.”
On Sunday, in his congratulatory message to Christine Fréchette, St-Pierre Plamondon said Bernard Drainville’s defeat marked “the defeat of the ‘blue’ nationalist current in favour of CAQ members who align more with the party’s ‘red’ stream of thought.” He also described the Lévis MNA’s leadership campaign as “courageous.”
Fréchette was elected CAQ leader Sunday with 57.9 per cent of the members’ vote and quickly called for party unity.
Bernard Drainville was seen as representing the more nationalist and identity-focused wing of the CAQ leadership race. The former PQ member strengthened secularism measures in schools while serving as education minister and was backed by prominent CAQ nationalist Simon Jolin-Barrette.
A two-way race is shaping up between the Parti Québécois and the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) ahead of the October election. The latest Léger poll puts the Liberals at 33 per cent, one point ahead of the PQ, while the CAQ trails at 13 per cent.
Polling aggregator Qc125 shows the PQ and PLQ neck and neck in vote share, though the PQ leads in projected seats with 63 compared to 47 for the Liberals.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
