Ruba Ghazal to run for premier with Québec Solidaire in 2026

Quebec Solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal, left, lifts Sol Zanetti’s arm as a symbol of victory after Zanetti was voted as new co-spokesperson in Quebec City, on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. (Karoline Boucher/The Canadian Press)

Ruba Ghazal will be Québec Solidaire’s (QS) candidate for premier and will participate in the leaders’ debate during next year’s general election.

QS members selected Ghazal at a convention in Québec City on Sunday, after new co-spokesperson Sol Zanetti announced on Saturday he was stepping aside to make way for her.

“In Quebec, we have the right to demand that the country we are building be feminist, inclusive, and supported by a green economy,” Ghazal said in her closing speech.

She and Zanetti made Quebec independence the central theme of their speeches throughout the weekend.

Together, they advocated for a “welcoming sovereignty,” different from that of Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s Parti Québécois (PQ), which they consider too “insular.”

“There is another vision of independence that is possible,” Ghazal told QS members on Sunday morning. “I hear Paul St-Pierre Plamondon talk about immigration and I see a ‘Yes’ camp being built that excludes. ... I don’t see this willingness to welcome people from elsewhere in the PQ.”

“If the PQ bus is too small, (...) we at QS will rent orange trains. There’s room for everyone on our orange trains!” she added to applause.

At a press conference in Montreal on Sunday, St-Pierre Plamondon responded to QS, stating that “there will never be a merger or agreement between QS and the PQ.”

“These are two parties that have their place and will submit an offer to the voters. The only person who decides in Quebec is the voter. There will be no deal,” he said.

“And even if Sol Zanetti is sincere in his desire for independence, can we put independence ahead of partisan attacks that are harmful to the social climate?” added the PQ leader.

The day before, in his victory speech, Zanetti attacked the PQ and the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), without naming them.

“Laws that ban religious symbols, drastic reductions in permanent immigration that will separate families for years, these are policies rooted in prejudice and fear. We must understand these prejudices and treat these fears with kindness. But we must collectively overcome them,” he said.

The Jean-Lesage MNA added to the PQ’s identity-based positions on Sunday during a press briefing with Ghazal.

“You can’t say, ‘We want to build the country with immigrants,’ and then say, ‘But we think there are too many of them, so we’re cutting the number of permanent residence applicants in half and extending the ban on religious symbols. ... It’s completely contradictory,” he said.

Zanetti, known as a fervent separatist, succeeded Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois on Saturday as co-spokesperson for QS.

He obtained 50.4 per cent of the votes cast by party members, winning in the first round ahead of Etienne Grandmont (37.96 per cent) and Yv Bonnier Viger (9.2 per cent).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French Nov. 9, 2025.

Caroline Plante, The Canadian Press