Last blitz for candidates before Monday’s byelection in Arthabaska

Quebec Conservative Party leader Eric Duhaime, CAQ candidate Keven Brasseur and PQ candidate Alex Boissonneault are the frontrunners for the Arthabaska byelection. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

It’s the last blitz for candidates before the byelection in the provincial riding of Arthabaska, in the Centre-du-Québec region.

Voters are invited to the polls on Monday to elect one of the 10 candidates running.

Advance voting was very popular last weekend. More than a quarter of the 63,000 registered voters (26.1 per cent) have already made their choice, representing 16,476 voters.

That is almost twice the advance voting turnout for the byelection in the riding of Terrebonne, in the Lanaudière region, on March 17.

The by-election in Arthabaska was triggered by the departure of CAQ MNA Eric Lefebvre, who made the jump to the federal level with Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.

The main candidates are Keven Brasseur (CAQ), Chantale Marchand (PLQ), Pascale Fortin (QS), Alex Boissonneault (PQ), and Éric Duhaime (PCQ).

According to poll aggregator QC125, this byelection will be a close race between Boissonneault and Quebec Conservative Party leader Duhaime.

The other candidates who have received authorization from Elections Quebec to run are Louis Chandonnet (Équipe autonomiste), Denis Gagné (independent), Trystan Martel (Climat Québec), Arpad Nagy (independent), and Éric Simard (Union nationale).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Aug. 10, 2025.