QUEBEC -- A member of the Coalition Avenir Quebec recently booted from cabinet has resigned from the party and says she no longer has faith in Premier Francois Legault.
Maite Blanchette Vezina says she will sit as an Independent and says Legault should reconsider his future as leader of the CAQ, adding that his policies have neglected Quebec's regions.
Her departure is the latest controversy to hit Legault and his party, both of which are deeply unpopular with electors one year away from the provincial election.
Blanchette Vezina was elected in 2022 in the riding of Rimouski and was the natural resources and forestry minister until eight days ago.
She had struggled steering a bill to protect the forestry industry but which triggered blockades from Indigenous people who said the legislation threatened their way of life.
Her announcement came as the CAQ caucus gathered in the legislature to go over last week's cabinet shuffle, but one high-profile member was absent -- former public security minister Francois Bonnardel, whom Legault also dropped from cabinet last week.
This report by was first published Sept. 18, 2025.