CAQ member booted from cabinet quits party, says she has lost faith in leader Legault

Quebec Minister of Natural Resources and Forests Maïté Blanchette Vézina responds to the Opposition during question period at the legislature in Quebec City, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

A member of the Coalition Avenir Québec recently booted from cabinet has resigned from the party and says she no longer has faith in Premier François Legault.

Maïté Blanchette Vézina says she will sit as an Independent and says Legault should reconsider his future as leader of the CAQ, adding that his policies have neglected Quebec’s regions.

Her departure is the latest controversy to hit Legault and his party, both of which are deeply unpopular with electors one year away from the provincial election.

• READ MORE: Who’s in and out of Legault’s reshuffled cabinet?

Blanchette Vézina was elected in 2022 in the riding of Rimouski and was the natural resources and forestry minister until eight days ago.

She had struggled steering a bill to protect the forestry industry but which triggered blockades from Indigenous people who said the legislation threatened their way of life.

• READ MORE: CAQ minister shuffled out of cabinet says she lost trust in Legault

Her announcement came as the CAQ caucus gathered in the legislature to go over last week’s cabinet shuffle, but one high-profile member was absent — former public security minister François Bonnardel, whom Legault also dropped from cabinet last week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2025.