Quebec Conservative Party Leader Éric Duhaime is setting his sights on a historic breakthrough in the upcoming provincial election this fall. In an interview with the National Post, Duhaime expressed confidence that October 5, 2026, will be a turning point for his party.
A Historic Moment
"It's going to be a historic moment on October 5," Duhaime said. He hopes to elect at least 12 members of the National Assembly (MNAs), which would grant the Conservatives official party status in the legislature. The last time the Quebec Conservatives held government was nearly a century ago, before merging with L'Action Libérale Nationale in 1935 to form the Union Nationale.
Building from Scratch
The party was reconstituted in 2009 but remained marginal until Duhaime, a former media personality, became leader in 2021. In the 2022 election, despite winning 530,786 votes (12.91% of the popular vote), the party failed to elect any MNAs, including Duhaime himself. In contrast, the Liberal Party secured 21 seats with 14.37% of the vote, and the Coalition Avenir Québec won a super-majority with 90 seats.
Duhaime admitted the 2022 result was "frustrating" but said the party has learned from its mistakes. "We now know where our votes are and won't spread resources thin," he explained. The leader acknowledged the difficulty of building a party from scratch, calling it "very tough" to gain a foothold in the National Assembly.
First MNA and Growing Momentum
This spring, former CAQ minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina crossed the floor to become the Conservatives' first representative in the legislature, after months of discussions with Duhaime. He noted that it is unusual for a party that came close to winning seats but failed to bounce back even stronger. "It's one thing to have a beer with friends and say you'll start a party and get elected. It's another to build it for real—thousands of hours by thousands of people," Duhaime said.
According to the polling aggregator Quebec125, the Conservatives are projected to win most of their coveted 12 seats in the Greater Quebec City area and the Chaudière-Appalaches region. Duhaime remains optimistic: "Now, we're on the verge of making history."
