On January 14, Quebec Premier François Legault announced he would resign as leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), the governing party, saying he could “clearly see” that many Quebecers were “calling for change, including a change in premier.” Legault, who has led the province since 2018, said he will remain in office until the CAQ chooses a new leader to replace him, triggering a succession process at the top of the provincial government just as Quebec heads into an election year.
More than just a leadership shuffle, Legault’s departure is widely being read as a referendum on the CAQ’s governing project: a blend of Quebec nationalism, French- language protectionism, and secularism. It also reflects scrutiny of the CAQ’s self-styled “managerial” approach; an emphasis on governing like a results-driven administration, foregrounding efficiency, measurable outcomes, and the promise of practical reforms over ideology. That brand has been tested in recent years by high- profile scandals and contentious policy changes, as parties now reposition on issues that have repeatedly become political flashpoints in Montreal, including tuition policy for out- of-province students and French- language requirements affecting English-language universities.
What happens now?
Next comes a CAQ leadership race that will choose the party’s next leader and Quebec’s next premier. In the days following Legault’s announcement, multiple senior figures signalled interest or faced public encouragement: the Minister of Economy, Christine Fréchette, said she is considering running. Finance Minister Eric Girard said he was interested, but that it was too early to say whether he would enter the race. Several CAQ Members of the National Assembly urged Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette to enter the race. While the CAQ runs its leadership selection process, the Legault government will continue to govern during an interim transition period, with Legault remaining premier until a successor is chosen.
Although the general election is scheduled for October 5, Quebec’s premier can still ask the lieutenant governor to dissolve the National Assembly earlier, meaning an early election remains legally possible even under a fixed-date system. The practical effect is a compressed timeline: the next CAQ leader may have months, not years, to define a new agenda and defend it in a province already in campaign posture.
Legault’s premiership: the “manager nationalist” era
Legault’s tenure has been characterized by political scientists as a form of “autonomist and managerial nationalism.” As former Parti Québéquois (PQ) minister and founder of the CAQ, Legault led a party that broke the longstanding legacy of Liberal–PQ. It presented itself as a pragmatic, autonomy-first alternative, promising competence and stability while advancing an assertive agenda on identity and state authority. Over the course of two majority mandates, his government repeatedly returned to defining policy areas: secularism in public institutions, French-language protection, and a harder line on immigration and integration, alongside high- stakes reforms that later became political liabilities, including identity legislation (such as Bill 21 and Bill 96) and major initiatives in public services.
Secularism as a defining, and polarizing, policy area
One of the CAQ’s signature policies is Bill 21, adopted in 2019 as Quebec’s secularism law. The law restricts the wearing of religious symbols for certain state employees in positions of authority while on the job; symbols often cited in public debate include the hijab, turban, and yarmulke/ kippah. This has remained a persistent fault line between the government’s claim to be defending state neutrality and critics’ arguments that it infringes religious freedom and disproportionately affects religious minorities, who are legally protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Bill 21 has been especially contentious in Montreal, home to many of Quebec’s most diverse neighbourhoods and institutions, shaping debates about who belongs in the public sphere and what neutrality means in practice. The policy’s legal future is still unsettled at the national level: the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to hear the constitutional challenge, setting up a major test of both the law itself and Quebec’s use of the notwithstanding clause.
French-language protection as a central project
If Bill 21 defined the CAQ’s secularism agenda, Bill 96 became its defining language policy. The legislation, assented to on June 1, 2022, overhauled Quebec’s language regime by affirming French as the province’s only official and “common” language, and by amending the Charter of the French language across multiple sectors. Supporters argue Bill 96 is necessary to protect the French language amid demographic and cultural changes. Critics, particularly in Montreal’s bilingual institutional ecosystem, have warned it can restrict language rights and add barriers for anglophones, allophones, students navigating education, and government services.
Bill 96 also reinforced a pattern in the CAQ’s broader approach to governing: the idea that protecting Quebec’s identity and social cohesion require stronger state intervention. This approach plays well in parts of the province, but can land as punitive or exclusionary in Montreal, where bilingual workplaces and institutions are common and where debates about language often overlap with questions of economic strategy and the ability to attract students, researchers, and skilled workers.
“Competence” tested by scandals and public-service conflict
While identity legislation anchored Legault’s political brand, a series of controversies eroded his “steady manager” image. A central example is what has been dubbed the SAAQclic ‘fiasco.’ At a public inquiry, Quebec’s interim auditor general Alain Fortin testified that budget overruns could bring the total for the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ)’s digital transformation project (SAAQclic) to about $1.1 billion CAD by 2027, nearly $500 million more than planned.
Healthcare became another front of political turmoil. Bill 2, adopted in late 2025, tied part of physicians’ compensation to performance targets, which sparked backlash from doctors who argued that the policy shifts the responsibility of access problems onto a strained workforce. The bill became so politically controversial that the government later signalled its openness to amendments while insisting some pay remain linked to patient-service targets.
Why resign now? Converging pressure in an election countdown
Legault framed his resignation as an acknowledgment that voters want change, but reporting around the announcement pointed to deeper turbulence: sustained low polling, internal strain, and a series of controversies that kept the government on the defensive heading into an election year. In an Associated Press interview, political analyst and McGill professor Daniel Béland said Legault is “the least popular premier in the country right now,” attributing this to his unpopular policies and missteps in communication.
The timing of Legault’s resignation effectively allows for a strategic gamble. A new leader can argue that the CAQ is turning the page, but the leader will also inherit the party’s most divisive policies, with little leeway to rebuild trust before voters head to the ballot box.
McGill and English universities: why a leadership change matters in Montreal
For McGill and Montreal’s other English-language universities, Legault’s resignation follows a policy debate that has become a proxy battle over Quebec’s identity, demographics, and economic strategy. In October 2023, the CAQ government proposed a raise in tuition for out-of-province Canadian students and imposed a French-language requirement. These changes sparked immediate pushback from English universities, student groups, and Montreal citizens.
In April 2025, Quebec Superior Court Justice Éric Dufour struck down key elements of the framework, ruling parts of the plan, including the French proficiency requirement, unreasonable and invalid and ordered the government to revise its regulations within a set timeline. The case sharpened a broader question that now hangs over the CAQ’s succession: whether Montreal’s universities will continue to be used as an election-season wedge, or whether a new premier will recalibrate the government’s approach to protect the French language while maintaining Montreal’s competitiveness in research and higher education.
The stakes are practical as well as symbolic: recruitment, retention, tuition revenue, program planning, and the city’s ability to position itself as an international destination without policy volatilities that discourage students and faculty. With Quebec’s campaign season beginning early, Montreal and post-secondary institutions like McGill are likely to remain the central terrain in the province’s fight over what “change” should mean after Legault.