The leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), Christine Fréchette, is taking a break from the election campaign on Sunday. Radio-Canada reported the same day that she will resume her role as premier and is calling a special cabinet meeting for Monday. The Canadian Press has confirmed that this special cabinet meeting will take place on Monday. This extraordinary cabinet meeting—which is quite rare during an election campaign—will be held on the eve of the entry into force of Canadian retaliatory tariffs on a wide range of products from the United States, in response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods. They will range from 15 to 50 per cent and target a wide range of products, including dairy products, steel, copper, and certain beauty products. These tariffs are a response to the 50 per cent surcharges imposed by Donald Trump on $28 billion worth of Canadian products, ranging from hockey sticks to honey. This decision quickly drew reactions from other party leaders who were in the midst of their election campaigns on Sunday. Quebec Liberal Party leader Charles Milliard notably suggested that Quebecers will “witness a theatrical performance” on Monday. “We’re going to have a press conference, flags, somber faces, people lined up around a table who will tell us they’re here for Quebecers and that they’ll do everything to save Quebec,” he summarized during a campaign stop in Gatineau. He believes that the Fréchette government has not prepared Quebec for the tariff war. “It’s improvisation. We’re currently witnessing a major improvisation, and that’s the opposite of preparation,” he said. For his part, Conservative leader Éric Duhaime also did not mince words in criticizing the decision to convene a cabinet meeting. “It’s disappointing, but it’s not surprising. Fréchette is a opportunist,” he stated after being questioned on the matter during a press briefing in Pont-Rouge. “We all understand that this is a marketing ploy by the CAQ, which is trying to exploit the tariff crisis to hide its track record,” argued Duhaime. PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon maintained that “fear is not an economic strategy” in a statement he sent via email. Like Mr. Duhaime, he accused Fréchette of using “the Trump bogeyman for several days now in the hope that the public will look away from the CAQ’s record and the proposals of each party.” In order to “preserve the integrity of our electoral process,” St-Pierre Plamondon is calling for all Quebec party leaders to be kept “directly” informed of developments by Prime Minister Mark Carney in the event of a new U.S. response. “On such an important issue, the continuity of the state and Quebec’s economic interests must take precedence over partisan considerations,” he emphasized. Unlike her opponents, Quebec Solidaire spokesperson Ruba Ghazal took a more nuanced stance, acknowledging that Fréchette is the premier and that she holds her meetings in that capacity. “What I’m asking her is: What does she propose regarding rates for workers?” she said shortly after a speech before the National Assembly. A similar situation occurred during the 2025 federal election, when Mark Carney resumed his duties as prime minister three times during his election campaign due to the tariff war. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 6, 2026.
