Politics: the Quebec election 2026, part 1
Self-tutoring about politics: the tutor begins about the Oct 5 election result from La Belle Province.
The following is by my understanding.
Watching the election results in Quebec, one might have been surprised. It wasn’t that the PQ won; that seemed expected. Rather, it was that the CAQ, which had gone into the election with a majority, ended up with zero seats.
Analysts are discussing what the message is from the voters, less than thirty percent of whom had actually voted for the PQ. One thing seemed certain: the voters sent the message that they want change.
Yet, change from what? It seems that the top three issues voters mentioned concerning the election are as follows:
- Cost of living/inflation.
- Healthcare.
- Housing.
It could be proposed that, in Canada, a provincial government is very limited in what it can do about inflation, since monetary policy is a federal issue. The government of Quebec could lower the cost of living somewhat by reducing regulations, so businesses could deliver goods and services more easily.
On the issue of healthcare, Quebec spent around 57 billion (depending on the source) for it in 2025-26, while the government ran a deficit of around 7 billion. Therefore, it doesn’t seem there’s a lot of fresh money available for healthcare, regardless of who takes the helm.
With the issue of housing, once again it seems the best the government can do is reduce regulations so contractors can build more units. When contractors and real estate investors can build more units and profit from them, it seems they tend to do so.
It seems that with the voters’ number one issue – inflation – Quebec’s outgoing party, the CAQ, likely wasn’t the culprit nor could have done much to mitigate it. With healthcare and housing, they seem to have struggled, but it’s my understanding they weren’t the only provincial government to do so.
Now, the PQ gets a fresh start on inflation, healthcare, and housing. Inflation has been brought under control by the federal government and seems likely to stay tame.
Fixing Quebec’s healthcare and housing situations will likely require changing and/or improving policies, which seem potentially very hard to do. Moreover, since the PQ got less than thirty percent of the popular vote, they may have to convince a lot of people to go along.
Yet, any Canadian who remembers the 70s might just as well have a deep affection for the Parti Quebecois. All the best to them:)
Source:
Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.