'it's a guarantee': legault says he's staying on as caq leader despite poll results
the premier's comments come after a poll showed 53 per cent of quebecers think he should resign.
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quebec — despite a poll showing a majority of quebecers want him to resign, premier françois legault has issued a personal guarantee that he is staying and will be on the ballot in 2026. “what i can tell you is that i guarantee you i will be the leader of the caq in 2026 for the election campaign,” legault said as he arrived at the legislature for question period on tuesday.
“it’s a guarantee.”
he did not elaborate, continuing down the hallway with reporters in tow.
it was the premier’s first comment since the publication monday of a pallas survey conducted for l’actualité that suggests more than half of quebecers think legault should resign rather than seek a third term in office.
the poll indicates 53 per cent of quebecers think he should resign, while 33 per cent said he should run again. fifteen per cent said they were not certain.
the other bad news in the poll is that 63 per cent of those surveyed said they were very dissatisfied with the legault government. only 20 per cent said they were satisfied.
support for legault’s resignation was highest among non-francophone respondents, at 61 per cent.
legault has stated, on several occasions but using different language, that he intends to lead the caq into the next election in october 2026.
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initially he stated two conditions for running again: that his health was good and that he felt he had the support of quebecers. later, he dropped the conditions, saying just that he will run again. legault is 67.
at the end of 2023, legault conceded it was not his best year and pledged to do better. but 2024 has been marked by a series of new problems for his government, including a historic $11-billion deficit.
his opponents sense a wounded government.
asked tuesday about the sparse legislative agenda in the last week before the christmas break, interim liberal leader marc tanguay said the caq has run out of gas.
“i think it’s a government at the end of its mandate,” tanguay said. “it’s an end-of-regime government that doesn’t have any ideas, that does not know what to do.”
“there is certainly no lack of problems to be dealt with,” added québec solidaire co-spokesperson ruba ghazal, saying that in her six years as an mna she has never seen parliament doing so little.
the legislature recesses friday for the holidays.
the pallas survey provided no evidence of a perceived leader-in-waiting in the caq.
respondents were given the names of seven high-profile ministers and were asked to assess which would be the best choice to replace legault.
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geneviève guilbault, transport minister and deputy premier, led the pack with 15 per cent, followed by health minister christian dubé with 10 per cent.
justice minister simon jolin-barrette and treasury board president sonia lebel were at nine per cent, education minister bernard drainville at six per cent, finance minister eric girard at three per cent and immigration minister jean-françois roberge at one per cent.
the most popular choice was “none of the above,” at 24 per cent.
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