QUEBEC -- Quebec Premier Christine Frechette will meet with the province's lieutenant-governor on Thursday, paving the way for the start of the election campaign.
The premier's official schedule says a cabinet meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m., after which Frechette is set to meet with Lt.-Gov. Manon Jeannotte.
Under Quebec's electoral system, the premier must symbolically ask the lieutenant-governor -- who represents the King -- to dissolve the legislature in order to call an election.
The Quebec election is scheduled for Oct. 5, which means the campaign will last 39 days.
The sovereigntist Parti Quebecois has been leading in public opinion polls since 2023, and has won four straight byelections.
However, that lead has shrunk in recent months, and analysts say issues such as resurgent referendum conversations and the U.S. trade war could shift the outcome of the campaign.
Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has promised to hold a referendum on Quebec sovereignty in the next four years if his party forms government, although he said earlier this month that the vote would only happen after U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the White House.
Frechette will lead the Coalition Avenir Quebec party into the election campaign after succeeding Francois Legault earlier this year.
She will face St-Pierre Plamondon as well as Liberal Leader Charles Milliard, Quebec solidaire spokesperson Ruba Ghazal and Eric Duhaime of the Conservatives.
At the moment, the Coalition Avenir Quebec holds 79 seats in the legislature, compared to 18 for the Quebec Liberal Party, 11 for Quebec solidaire, and seven for the Parti Quebecois.
The Quebec Conservative Party holds one seat, and there are nine independent members.
This report by was first published Aug. 26, 2026.