Quebec’s five main political party leaders face off in the first of three leaders’ French-language debates. The debate’s three main themes are the economy, taxes and public services, and the future of Quebec. The second debate is scheduled for Wednesday on Noovo Info and the Crave streaming platform, while the third debate is on Sept. 23 on Radio-Canada. Key details: Follow along for the latest updates: Fréchette’s record comes under attack in debate Coalition Avenir Quebec leader Christine Fréchette was the main target in the first debate of the provincial election campaign on Tuesday as the five main party leaders sparred over the economy, Quebec sovereignty and immigration. From the first moments of the debate, Fréchette’s rivals criticized the last eight years of her party’s governance. Parti Québécois Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said his party would end years of “CAQ waste,” while Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard said Fréchette’s party hadn’t taken care of the economy and businesses, and “doesn’t in any way represent the changes Quebecers need.” Fréchette took no time in distancing herself from her predecessor and former premier. “I am not François Legault. I am Christine Fréchette, and I come with my own way of doing things,” she said. Conservative Leader Eric Duhaime and Quebec solidaire’s Ruba Ghazal were also on the stage for the two-hour debate, hosted by Quebec’s TVA television network. Host Paul Larocque urged the leaders to stay respectful as the debate got underway. The debate focused on three main themes: the economy, taxes and public services, and the future of Quebec. It also featured a head-to-head format, with two leaders being paired off to debate most of the questions. St-Pierre Plamondon, Milliard and Duhaime accused the Coalition Avenir Quebec government — and Fréchette as a minister and more recently premier — of having presided over ballooning state spending and a growing debt, as well as scandals around the now-defunct Northvolt electric battery plant project and cost overruns at the province’s auto insurance board. Fréchette said her government could create stability and predictability, and touted deals such as the recent tentative energy agreement reached with Newfoundland and Labrador. In one testy exchange, Fréchette said Duhaime’s plan to cut $47 billion in state spending over the next five years would hurt working mothers. “It seems that for Mr. Duhaime, financial independence stops at women because he doesn’t actually want to increase the number of spots in (daycares),” she said. Duhaime shot back, saying he was only proposing what amounted to a five per cent spending cut. “Five per cent, people who are listening at home do that every week.” St-Pierre Plamondon also faced criticism over his promising a sovereignty referendum in the next four years if his party forms government. Fréchette said a Parti Québécois government would focus on sovereignty rather than other priorities such as health. “We see that their priority, in fact, is to create a new Quebec currency, to create a Quebec army, and wait, a Quebec space agency. So I would like to say to Mr. Plamondon: come back down to earth and work on real priorities,” she said. The Parti Québécois leader, in response, targeted Fréchette’s refusal to say whether she’d vote yes or no in a sovereignty referendum, and her attempts to distance herself from her party’s past. “You can ridicule, Ms. Fréchette, if you want, the aspiration of a people to go toward more equality and more respect between people. Me, I’m in politics, I don’t hide my convictions, I don’t hide the name of my party,” he said. Milliard also criticized Fréchette’s refusal to say how she’d vote in a referendum, saying she had people in her party supporting both sides of the sovereignty debate and describing her position as “unworthy” of leadership. The leaders were also questioned on their stances on immigration. Ghazal criticized St-Pierre Plamondon for earlier comments linking immigration to overcrowded schools and the decline of the French language. “This really touches me because I have six nieces and nephews who are second-generation Quebecers, and they aren’t the ones causing schools to overflow,” she said. “The reason our schools are overcrowded is underinvestment.” St-Pierre Plamondon said Ghazal was twisting his words. “You’re falsely implying that I blamed children. Obviously, I didn’t do that. I was talking about the CAQ’s immigration thresholds.” The Canadian Press No English-language leaders’ debate There is no English-language leaders’ debate scheduled for this provincial election. A consortium of English-language media had invited the leaders to a 90-minute debate on Sept. 24. However, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) and Parti Québécois (PQ) declined to participate. The Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) stated it would participate only if all five parties took part. Québec Solidaire and the Conservatives accepted the invitation. The general election is slated for Oct. 5. Robin Della Corte, CTVNewsMontreal.ca Digital Reporter Québec Solidaire to invest in community sector Québec Solidaire is promising to inject an additional $1 billion each year into the community sector. Spokesperson Sol Zanetti is in Trois-Rivières to show his support for the “Communautaire à boutte” movement, which has been campaigning to secure better funding for community organizations. “Organizations on the ground are our emergency safety net for the most vulnerable people,” he said. ”Without community organizations and the tens of thousands of workers in the network, we simply wouldn’t have a safety net... It’s time to make the necessary choices to give the community network the resources it needs to do its work with dignity.” The Canadian Press Quebecers want concrete action in health, environment: poll A new Léger poll commissioned by the Vire au vert coalition reveals strong public consensus that the next government should provide better access to nature, increase the availability of local food and improve air quality. Additionally, nearly 90 per cent of the population agrees that “increasing access to fresh, local and affordable food helps people be healthier,” according to the poll released Tuesday. Promoting local, fresh, and sustainable products “helps support our farmers, reduces our dependence on American products, while lowering our carbon footprint and helping to keep Quebecers healthy,” argue the member organizations of the Vire au vert coalition. The data was collected from Sept. 4 to 6, 2026. According to Léger, a probabilistic sample of 1,034 respondents would have a margin of error of ±3.05 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The Canadian Press Day 20 Here is where the party leaders are planning to start their day, in order of first appearance: Ruba Ghazal (Québec Solidaire) QS spokespersons Ruba Ghazal and Sol Zanetti are expected to hold a press briefing in support of the “Communautaire à boutte” initiative at 11:30 a.m. in Trois-Rivières. They will then participate in the first leaders’ debate on TVA Montreal. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (Parti Québécois) PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon will also spend the day preparing for the leaders’ debate on TVA Montreal, followed by a press scrum. His candidates are expected to present the party’s financial framework at 11:30 a.m. on the Esplanade Tranquille in Montréal. Charles Milliard (Quebec Liberal Party) Liberal Leader Charles Milliard is slated to head to the TVA studios at 6:20 p.m. to participate in the first leaders’ debate. He will return to the Hilton Garden Inn Montreal Midtown at 10 p.m. Christine Fréchette (Coalition Avenir Québec) CAQ Leader Christine Fréchette is set to focus on the first leaders’ debate on TVA Montreal followed by a press briefing at 10:40 p.m. Éric Duhaime (Quebec Conservative Party) Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime will spend the day preparing for the first leaders’ debate on TVA Montreal. The leaders
