While the newly elected Parti Québécois (PQ) has promised to slim down the state, Quebec Solidaire insists it will be “uncompromising” on austerity and cuts to public services. “It’s clear that if the PQ decides to implement the austerity measures it announced in its financial framework, we cannot support that, because it will hurt the public. Everyone agrees that Quebecers – those who work and those who do not – are finding the cost-of-living crisis very difficult at the moment,” said Quebec Solidaire spokesperson Ruba Ghazal during a press briefing on the sidelines of her party’s caucus meeting in Quebec City on Wednesday. PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has pledged to reduce public sector pay. The left-wing party fears that the PQ will turn increasingly to Éric Duhaime’s Conservatives – who have promised to cut 20,000 civil service jobs – to push their agenda. “This is something that is possible, particularly on the issue of immigration. (...) We will be the ones to champion the protection of public services and also to find the money where it is because to tackle the issue of homelessness, which seems to be close to everyone’s heart, we’re going to have to find the money,” argued the other QS spokesperson, Sol Zanetti. The PQ secured a minority government by electing 59 MNAs on Oct. 5. The Conservatives secured 19. For its part, QS elected nine MNAs. Finally, the Liberals secured 40 seats, while the Coalition Avenir Québec was wiped off the map. “We are in a parliament where the balance of power is evenly split. I strongly urge the Premier, Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon, not to lean solely in one direction, but to turn to Quebec Solidaire and the proposals we are putting forward, because this is urgent. The housing crisis is a national emergency,” added Ghazal. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 14, 2026.
