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CP NewsAlert: Frechette to be Quebec's next premier after winning CAQ leadership

  • Erika Morris

  • Canadian Press

  • April 12, 2026

CAQ leadership candidate Christine Frechette gives remarks at the CAQ leadership convention in Drummondville, Que., on Sunday, April 12, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

DRUMMONDVILLE -- Coalition Avenir Quebec members have named Christine Frechette as the new party leader.

She will be sworn in as Quebec premier.

Some 15,800 members voted in the leadership race.

Frechette and Bernard Drainvile were the only two to run after outgoing Quebec premier Francois Legault stepped down in January.

Drainville, a former Parti Quebecois minister, leaned on conservative ideas and positioned himself as the candidate best suited to defend Quebec's identity and to adopt a stricter immigration policy.

Frechette, a former PQ staffer, focused her leadership campaign on economic issues, including on reopening the debate around shale gas and hydraulic fracturing.

More to come...

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 12, 2026.