Sonia Bélanger to succeed Christian Dubé as Quebec Health Minister

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé, flanked by Quebec Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant, right, and Junior Health and Seniors Minister Sonia Bélanger, walks to a news conference, Wednesday, October 26, 2022 at the legislature in Quebec City. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

Sonia Bélanger is set to succeed Christian Dubé as Quebec Health Minister, according to information obtained by The Canadian Press on Friday morning.

Bélanger is currently the Minister responsible for Social Services and Seniors and responsible for the Laurentians region.

Her appointment comes on the heels of Dubé’s dramatic departure.

The former Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) heavyweight not only resigned from his position as minister, but also left the party to sit as an independent.

In a lengthy message on social media, Dubé, who had served as Health Minister since 2020, expressed his disappointment that parts of his Bill 2 were being abandoned.

This came after he lamented the agreement in principle reached with the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) “maintains the status quo” on governance issues.

After an initial laconic reaction, Premier François Legault took to social media again on Friday morning to respond to Dubé‘s departure.

“This is another difficult blow to take,” he said on X. “Christian Dubé announced to me that he was resigning from his position. (...) He also announced his intention to sit as an independent MNA so as not to be a distraction for the government. Politics is hard on a human level. When you’re premier, the interests of Quebec and Quebecers must come first.”

All the same, the premier defended his decision to personally “take back control” of the negotiations with the doctors.

“As premier, I felt that we had gone far enough and that it was time to reach an agreement with the doctors to avoid damaging the health care system,” he argued. “I took back control of the negotiations (...) with the help of France-Élaine Duranceau so that we could focus on the important changes that needed to be made to improve services to citizens.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 19, 2025.