Bitter split erupts between Vincent Marissal and Québec solidaire

CTV News political analyst, Raphael Melancon, discusses Vincent Marissal’s last minute announcement to leave the Québec Solidaire caucus.

Talks with the Parti Québécois have sparked tensions between Québec solidaire (QS) and Rosemont MNA Vincent Marissal, who announced Saturday he is leaving the QS caucus just as the party moved to suspend him.

The now-independent MNA confirmed his decision Saturday morning during a last-minute news conference at his constituency office.

“I had firmly decided a few days ago to leave the QS caucus. I planned to announce it to my caucus colleagues on Wednesday,” Marissal said.

“I’m just taking a different path. I’m not going to sit in this caucus and suffer, because I’ve been suffering for some time,” he added.

The caucus’s stance during the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) strikes was the final straw.

Marissal criticized the party for siding firmly with unions, at the expense of the public.

“At that point, I think we were on the wrong side of history. People were suffering in Montreal. They were sending us fiery emails because they felt we had abandoned them. And I believe we did abandon them,” he said.

A flirtation with the PQ

QS says it had already shown Marissal the door.

About 15 minutes before his announcement, the party issued a statement saying the caucus had unanimously voted to suspend him.

QS accused him of holding discussions with Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon about leaving QS and running for the PQ in the 2026 election.

Later in the day, co-spokespersons Ruba Ghazal and Sol Zanetti said they learned of the talks on Friday.

“Vincent Marissal hid the truth from us. We learned he entered into secret negotiations with another political party about his political future, and that is a red line,” Ghazal said at a news conference at party headquarters.

She said the party felt betrayed when Marissal spoke to another party leader before speaking to them.

“My door has always been wide open to him and to the caucus,” she said. “It’s very, very hard. It’s like being cheated on by your partner — it’s awful.”

Marissal did not deny contacting the PQ leader and having discussions, noting he has a great deal of respect for him.

“Yes, I spoke with Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, whom I’ve known for years. Nothing is set, and I have no announcement to make on that right now,” he said.

He acknowledged that the PQ would be the only political family he could see himself joining after leaving QS, saying it was important to block the path for the Quebec Liberal Party and the Coalition avenir Québec.

“The only place, the only family where I could see myself is the Parti Québécois. But we’re not there yet,” he said.

He also said he is open to contributing to the PQ’s sovereignty project.

“If we were truly able to prepare Quebec’s accession to sovereignty, I can’t imagine a greater project than that for a people,” he said.

St-Pierre Plamondon also commented Saturday.

“Party transfers are always very delicate, which is why I think he’s making the right decision by sitting as an independent,” he wrote on X.

“The Parti Québécois has nothing to announce on this, except that our discussions had only just begun, and everyone will agree that Vincent Marissal is a highly competent, focused and effective sovereigntist MNA in the National Assembly,” he added.

Tensions inside QS

Marissal had harsh words for his former party, saying it is not governable.

“It’s a party paralyzed by its base, completely mired, and unable to emancipate itself. There’s a huge distance between the caucus and the activist base,” he said.

“The problem is that we can’t bring this party back toward a bit more rationality,” he added.

Ghazal said she left the party’s early-November convention feeling members were “more united than ever.”

Marissal was first elected in 2018, when he defeated then-PQ leader Jean-François Lisée. He was re-elected four years later with a margin of more than 5,000 votes over CAQ candidate Sandra O’Connor.

He has also considered joining the federal Liberals, which he denied Saturday, saying he simply had coffee with an aide to former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Before the last municipal election, members of Montreal’s business community approached him about running for mayor.

While he has no concrete plan for 2026, he is not questioning his political future.

“I need to find a way to do politics constructively,” the Rosemont MNA said. “My only regret is not saying this sooner. But I wanted to believe.”

By Audrey Sanikopoulos

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 22, 2025.