Transfer of power between François Legault and Christine Fréchette
Posted April 14, 2026 1:58 pm.
Last Updated April 14, 2026 5:50 pm.
François Legault welcomed his successor, Christine Fréchette, to the Honoré-Mercier building on Tuesday for the official transfer of power.
The outgoing premier and the premier-designate posed briefly for cameras before entering the room where they would proceed with the transfer of files.
Fréchette, who was elected leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) on Sunday with 57.9 per cent of the vote against 42.1 per cent for Bernard Drainville, will be sworn in Wednesday afternoon at the National Assembly.
She has called a meeting of the CAQ caucus for Wednesday evening.
In his farewell address on Sunday, Legault called for unity, urging the winning side to reach out to the losing side. On Tuesday, he expressed his confidence in the future.
“I leave reassured. I tell myself, I couldn’t ask for a better person than Christine to take charge of Quebec’s future. Christine will be an excellent premier for a long time,” he declared.
Taking the floor in turn, Fréchette promised Quebecers she would help them through this period of “great change.”
“We are in an increasingly uncertain world. But if there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that now is the time to come together, to join forces, to work together. We must not be divided.”
Since the beginning of the week, Fréchette has been attending meetings at a frenetic pace.
She greeted crowds in Trois-Rivières, spoke by phone with the Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney and then with several provincial premiers. She also met with the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, Charles Milliard.
The premier-designate also met with her rival in the race, Drainville, Finance Minister Eric Girard, and Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette. She will meet with Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand on Wednesday morning.
During her meeting with Girard, she reportedly asked him “to identify the most effective way to remove the Quebec sales tax (QST) from a range of everyday consumer and grocery products.”
“Then, I asked Mr. Girard to propose a plan to return the additional government revenues related to the increase in gasoline prices due to the war in the Middle East,” she stated on X.
During the campaign, Fréchette proposed reducing vehicle registration fees to offset the rise in gasoline prices.
Drainville supporters in Fréchette’s Cabinet
To preserve party unity, Fréchette stated upfront that she would entrust “important” responsibilities to Drainville and include Drainville supporters like Jolin-Barrette and Sonia Bélanger in her cabinet.
She confirmed this information in an interview on 98.5 FM Tuesday morning. At a press conference the previous day, she had left some doubt about the fate of Jolin-Barrette, among others.
Will the nationalist luminary retain a ministerial post? “Absolutely,” Fréchette told host Patrick Lagacé. “Simon is very talented, and we’ll certainly need to put him to good use.”
Her proposed Quebec constitution will continue to move forward in the National Assembly, but if it doesn’t garner the support of at least one opposition party, it won’t be adopted, she explained. “There needs to be a certain level of support.”
Furthermore, Fréchette said she “greatly appreciates” Bélanger’s work at the Ministry of Health. “She took charge of the situation very quickly. So, I will be counting on her in the cabinet, that’s for sure,” she stated.
At a press conference at the National Assembly on Monday, Fréchette had stated that forming a cabinet was a “high-wire act.” She had mentioned wanting a gender-balanced but smaller cabinet of fewer than 26 ministers.
When asked on Tuesday about the possibility of appointing a non-elected member to the inner sanctum, the premier-designate replied that she was considering it.
“I’m not closing the door,” she stated. “It’s not a must, but it’s a possibility. It could happen, depending on what can be done. But as I said, … it’s a very complex exercise.”
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
