‘Family decision’: Guilbault to leave politics at the end of her term

Quebec Minister Samuel Poulin says Genevieve Guilbault is a very important person in Quebec politics after she said she is not running.

Minister of Municipal Affairs Geneviève Guilbault will be leaving politics at the end of her term.

She called a press conference on Sunday to be held in her riding of Louis-Hébert, in Québec City, to announce her decision.

She arrived with her son and daughter (six and eight years old) to a round of applause and listed her achievements while in office as minister of transport, municipal affairs and public security.

“I gave everything I had to politics,” she said. “I worked seven days a week. I travelled all over Quebec. I was always in the field, close to the people, with my colleagues, with our entrepreneurs, with our citizens. I have always prioritized direct links with real people.”

Guilbault is, thus, giving up her bid to succeed Premier and Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) leader François Legault.

She said she made the decision to leave and that her decision had nothing to do with the premier’s announcement that he would step down.

“This decision will undoubtedly surprise many people, but it is a decision that we made a long time ago, and it has nothing to do with current events,” she said. “It has nothing to do with the premier’s announcement this week. It has nothing to do with the polls or any other circumstantial factors. It is a personal family decision that is right for us because the most important thing is to be happy.”

If she continued in politics, she said, she would miss her young children’s childhood. She was pregnant when she first ran in a 2017 byelection and had her second child while in office.

“Since I had my children while I was an elected official, and they have never known me doing anything other than politics,” she said. “In other words, I will have spent their entire childhood essentially doing nothing but politics.

“I have often said that I am not afraid of much in life, but I am afraid of regret, and, for me, it is clear that if I continue in politics for another four years, I risk regretting having missed out on my children’s childhood in a way, because my mind would have been elsewhere during all those precious years.”

Legault said that Guilbault’s election in 2017 was a “pivotal moment” for the CAQ.

“Thank you to @GuilbaultCAQ for her commitment, her energy, her grassroots work, and her trust,” Legault wrote on X. “Bravo for the changes she has brought, including, among others, for women’s safety and for our beautiful Capitale-Nationale. I understand her need to spend more time with her children.”

Guilbault has been a pillar of the CAQ for eight years. She served as deputy premier of Quebec from 2022 to 2025.

“The reason I was in politics is simple: to change Quebec for the better,” she said. “I was one of many people who were dissatisfied with certain things. So rather than criticizing in a vacuum and complaining endlessly in my living room, I decided to take action and contribute.”

Guilbault’s star as Transport Minister faded following revelations related to the SAAQclic fiasco before the Gallant Commission.

She was reportedly advised that commissioner Denis Gallant’s final report, expected by Feb. 13, would cite her for misconduct.

Guilbault was re-elected in the 2018 and 2022 general elections.

She said she is not ruling out a return to politics.

“I am not closing the door on politics,” she said. “I am not closing the door on politics forever. As they say, the future is long. But today, I need my children and my parents to come first. Despite the ups and downs, I loved my years in politics.”

With files from The Canadian Press.