CAQ minister shuffled out of cabinet says she lost trust in Legault

Quebec Natural Resources Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina tables a bill at the legislature in Quebec City, Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

A former minister under François Legault who was shuffled out of the CAQ cabinet on Wednesday said she disapproves of his choices.

Rimouski MNA Maïté Blanchette Vézina still believes in the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) and even wants to run under its banner again in the 2026 election, but on Thursday she expressed doubts about her leader.

She had been Minister of Natural Resources and Forests since her election in 2022, but lost her position to Jean-François Simard, with no explanation provided by the government.

She had written a rather tame message on X network Wednesday, the day of the reshuffle, highlighting her achievements, but on Thursday, she revealed her dissatisfaction.

“It’s clear that my confidence in the premier and his inner circle has been shaken at this point,” she said during a press scrum in her riding of Rimouski.

However, she added that she wanted to run again in 2026 for the same political party.

“I still think that the Coalition Avenir Québec is a very good vehicle for bringing together people who want to work for the future of Quebec,” she argued.

Her office declined The Canadian Press’s request for an interview.

A ‘very difficult process’

The government has indicated that “reshuffles involve heartbreaking choices,” according to a statement from a spokesperson.

“It is an experience that can be trying both professionally and personally,” it read, adding that even the head of government found the experience painful.

“The premier himself admitted that he found the process very difficult. Caucuses are meant to be places for frank discussion, and we will have all the discussions necessary to work together and deliver the results that Quebecers expect.”

Legault was much less lenient in another recent case.

His Abitibi-East MNA, Pierre Dufour, had suggested that he might resign if his leader did not appoint a minister from the region, and as a result, he was expelled from the caucus.

‘I think I delivered what was asked of me’

Even before the reshuffle, media learned which ministers would be excluded, namely Suzanne Roy, André Lamontagne, and François Bonnardel, but not Blanchette Vézina.

On Thursday, she struggled to explain why she had been ejected, though she insists she followed the directives of the premier’s office.

“I think I delivered what was asked of me with the guidelines I was given,” she said.

Her term was not always smooth sailing, and she suggested that she agreed to defend controversial projects at the government’s request.

Last spring, she had to ram through a bill to expand a hazardous waste landfill site in Blainville, despite opposition from the city and other political parties.

Her Bill 67, which aims to reform Quebec’s forestry regime, has also been criticized from all sides.

Just last week, during the cabinet meeting, she suggested that she was waiting for First Nations to collaborate in “co-writing” amendments to improve the draft legislation, which was to be studied further this fall.

It is still unclear whether, with the prorogation of the session, the government will continue to study Bill 67 or withdraw it.

In her message on X, Blanchette Vézina argued that she had initiated a “collective reflection on the future of our forests.”

She seems to accept losing her position and assures that she will continue her mandate as a member of parliament until the end.

“I have often said that every minister is first and foremost a member of parliament,” she recalled. “I will continue to act with conviction and independence of mind to represent our world, defend the regions of Quebec, and make our voice heard where it counts.”

She also pointed out that she assumed her duties during the forest fires of the summer of 2023 and that she had a new mining law passed “to improve the acceptability of mining projects.”

Blanchette Vézina was first elected to the National Assembly in the 2022 general election. She was mayor of Sainte-Luce from 2017 to 2021.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French Sept. 11, 2025.