Quebec votes 2026: One-on-one with Liberal Leader Charles Milliard
Posted September 30, 2026 5:20 pm.
Quebecers will head to the polls on Monday to choose their next government.
Charles Milliard, the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ), joined CityNews for a one-on-one interview to talk about how he’ll convince Quebecers to vote PLQ, how he’s going to help the Anglophone community, and what a government under his leadership would do beginning Day 1.
You have just five days left to convince Quebecers to vote Liberal. We now know that nearly a quarter of Quebecers have already cast their ballots through advance polling. The latest Leger poll puts the PLQ at 26 per cent, four points behind the PQ. What are you doing in these final days to close that gap and convince undecided voters?
Well, obviously we’ll be on the ground visiting as many ridings as possible over the next four days. And I’ll make sure to talk to Quebecers about the importance of this election campaign, which is a referendum campaign because my main opponent has been very clear about the fact that he will be convening Quebecers to a referendum, whether it’s in 2029, 2030, doesn’t change anything. So I want to make sure that Quebecers who at close to 70 per cent do not want a referendum know that we are the party that will make sure that Quebec stays within Canada. We have a strong and very pragmatic program, a very realistic program. I’ve been doing this campaign saying the truth to Quebecers about our public finances and the state of our public services. I’m very proud of the campaign so far, but we still have four days to go.
Sovereignty has become one of the defining issues of this campaign. You’ve been very clear that you want Quebec to remain part of Canada. What would you say to Quebecers who feel the federal system isn’t working for them and are increasingly open to the idea of independence?
Well, obviously, I mean, no country is perfect. There’s something that I want to be improved in Canada, but I really think that given the economic, financial circumstances we’re in right now, the fact that Quebec stays strong within a strong Canada is key. I think we need to work more with the rest of Canada when it comes to commerce and international commerce and national commerce. We need to stay strong and united against obviously what we’re seeing at the White House right now. And we need to diversify our market. So I was very happy to see Prime Minister Carney in Strasbourg two weeks ago talking about having a stronger relationship with the European Union. So those are key elements. And I think we need a premier that actually likes the economy and has an experience in that. And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing in my life so far.
On Day 1, if the PLQ is elected, what is a Charles Milliard government doing?
Well, first, we’re going to be changing the tone about the fact that we need to unite Quebecers. Quebec has done so bad in having us being together as a group, as a nation. I want to build 100,000 (housing) units per year over the next few years. So we’re going to need to talk with all the construction sector, with our primary sector, forestry, mining, agriculture. So there’s a lot to do for our economy. And this will be with the intention of having better public services. So I want to convene estates general on education and I also want to implement a public platform of telehealth so that Quebecers, with their (Quebec health card), will be able to have access to virtual consultations either by phone or through the internet. So those are very pragmatic solutions for a very pragmatic future for Quebec.
The Liberal Party has historically presented itself as a strong defender of Quebec’s anglophone community. What message do you have for anglophones who feel overlooked during this campaign? What steps would a Liberal government take to protect anglophone rights?
Well, I think the community has been hurt over the past eight years. And I think it’s time that we have a government that will actually want to include all Quebecers. And I think it’s not about only protecting rights, which of course I will be doing, but it’s also about having all the communities together towards a better Quebec, especially when it comes to health care, education, agriculture. As you know, I’m running in the riding of Orford where there’s a somewhat big English-speaking community. So I get the feeling of what’s happening right now and I’m up for the challenge.
Let’s talk about secularism and Bill 94. You said this week that a Liberal government would not make changes to the law for now, even though you’ve acknowledged that some of its provisions can create situations of exclusion… What do you mean by that and why keep a law in place that you say can create those problems?
Well, actually I think that the tone of that subject has been very bad over the past eight years. And I think we need to be very careful about how we see the future with regard to that question. And what I said is that there is no change in the program of the Liberal Party of Quebec and there is a judgment that will be given by the Supreme Court, I guess in a few months. We’ll see. Hopefully it would have been before the election campaign, but that didn’t happen. So I want to make sure that we read that because I want to be the premier of a state of law. So I believe in the state of law. And then the traditional position of the party is not to renew the clause in 2029. It’s in three years, but in the meantime, we’re going to have the judgment from the court. And I think that when we’re talking about secularism, we need to be very adamant about protecting what’s happening in our schools, especially what happened at Bedford. And so Bill 21, Bill 94 helped in no way. So there are still some work to do to make sure that our schools are secured. But in the meantime, I want to hear what the court has to say.
You’ve taken over the Liberal Party at a particularly difficult moment. What should voters know about the PLQ now under Charles Milliard that it wasn’t under Pablo Rodriguez?
Well, the Liberal Party of Quebec is about the economy so that we can have better public services. We have very strong core values that we believed in for the past 160 years. We are the only true federalist party. We believe in a strong Canada with Quebec in it. And you know, I’m both following the tradition of the party, but at the same time, I’m renewing it with a new team. Close to 70 per cent of our candidates are new to politics, and I think that’s a breath of fresh air that we really need in Quebec.
