BREAKING: Legault to resign as Coalition Avenir Québec devastated in polls
Quebec Premier François Legault is stepping down, announcing his resignation today amid a dramatic collapse in polling for the ruling Coalition Avenir Québec party.
Quebec Premier François Legault is stepping down, announcing his resignation today amid a dramatic collapse in polling for the ruling Coalition Avenir Québec party.
Legault is expected to make a statement later Wednesday but will not take questions.
The announcement followed an unexpected media advisory summoning reporters to Legault’s Quebec City office at 11 a.m., after what was described as a surprise press conference notice sent at 9:45 a.m.
Many members of Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) caucus had anticipated a possible departure, though they had not been formally informed.
The resignation comes on the same day as a virtual meeting of Quebec’s cabinet, the first since the holiday break.
Signs of a major announcement had been building, including a planned dinner in Quebec City involving chiefs of staff and Legault’s top advisers, such as chief of staff Martin Koskinen and deputy director Claude Laflamme.
Legault had insisted in end-of-year interviews that he intended to remain in office and run again in Quebec’s 2026 election. He had previously said his decision would depend on his health and public support.
The CAQ has sharply fallen in public opinion polls and faces the prospect of being decimated in the next provincial election.
A Pallas-Data poll released Wednesday reportedly placed the CAQ in fourth place with 11 per cent support, tied with Québec solidaire and behind the Parti conservateur du Québec.
An aggregated polling model published by 338Canada on December 19, before the winter break, projected the CAQ could be reduced to single-digit seats, estimating a range between zero and seven seats.
The separatist Parti Québécois appears comfortably positioned to win a majority government in October after Liberal party leader Pablo Rodriguez resigned amid reports of a vote-buying scandal during his party’s leadership campaign.
I wonder, could this have anything to do with Legault's recent public admission that the only reason he keeps Quebec in Confederation is the mult-billion dollar welfare cheque he receives from working Canadians?