The leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ), Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, invites Premier François Legault to “think” about triggering a general election before 2026. “If you don’t want to be there, there are other people who are ready to be there,” he told government officials on Thursday, in a rally with a strong electoral flavour, in Terrebonne.
More than a hundred people had taken over the public square in Vieux-Terrebonne in the late afternoon to welcome the PQ caucus, which had just arrived from Rouyn-Noranda, where it had held its pre-parliamentary meeting the day before. Warmly welcomed as he got off a chartered bus, the PQ leader was very enthusiastic about the idea of campaigning in the Terrebonne by-election, made necessary Tuesday by the departure of former minister Pierre Fitzgibbon.
“The Parti Québécois thinks like a winner,” declared “PSPP” at a press conference on Thursday. “We’re going to win! We’re going to win!” the crowd responded, visibly won over — several spectators wore buttons bearing the PQ logo.
Premier François Legault has six months to call a by-election in Terrebonne, where the polling aggregation site Qc125 already gives a “probable” victory to Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s party. This would be a second win for the PQ since the 2022 general election, after the one in Jean-Talon in Quebec City.
The constituency, once a bastion of the sovereignist party, is so important in the eyes of the PQ team that it decided on Wednesday to cut short its caucus in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
Already, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is talking about a “turning point” towards the 2026 election. Despite a slight drop in voting intentions, his political party is leading the polls. And two years before the general election, he is challenging Premier François Legault: “if the motivation is no longer there,” he should call the general election early, the PQ leader suggested Thursday afternoon.
“It’s at [lui] to do this examination of conscience,” he said. “If the CAQ wants to be there, […] that she finishes her term. If, on the other hand, the deputies are preparing their next project, whether it be a maple grove, or a candidacy for mayor of I don’t know where, or a retirement plan. If they are no longer there and no longer have the taste, yes, he should consider calling an early election.
On Wednesday, the resigning minister Pierre Fitzgibbon cited his lack of “motivation” to explain his departure.
Quick election in Terrebonne?
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon says he is already “ready” for a full-fledged election campaign, two years after the election that saw the PQ garner less than 15% of support. “There are people who have talent and intelligence and who want to be there,” he said. “There are many Quebecers who are ready to turn the page.”
And in the meantime, there will be the Terrebonne by-election. On Wednesday, the Table of Prefects and Elected Officials of the North Crown asked that this be done quickly.
Between 1976 and 2018, the PQ only gave up once in the Terrebonne riding. In 2022, however, candidate Geneviève Couture came in a good second behind Mr. Fitzgibbon, with 19% of the vote against about 49%.
The PQ caucus is currently composed of four members: Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, Joël Arseneau, Pascal Bérubé and Pascal Paradis. On Wednesday in Rouyn-Noranda, the leader of the sovereignist party had stated that he wanted to present a female candidate in Terrebonne, while specifying that it was necessary to follow the regular investiture “process.”
With the departure of Pierre Fitzgibbon, the Coalition avenir Québec caucus has lost its third MP in two years, after the former Jean-Talon representative Joëlle Boutin and the future Conservative Party of Canada candidate in Richmond—Arthabaska, Eric Lefebvre, who became an independent.