Former CAQ minister and leadership candidate Bernard Drainville received the backing of three of his former cabinet colleagues Monday, a day before voting begins to elect Fran\u00e7ois Legault\u2019s successor.<\/p>\n
Quebec\u2019s Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, Minister of Health Sonia B\u00e9langer and Transport Minister Jonatan Julien announced they are endorsing Drainville at a press conference.<\/p>\n
The backing by high-profile names comes as the campaign enters its last week before the party is set to announce the new leader on April 12. <\/p>\n
Drainville\u2019s rival Christine Fr\u00e9chette has consistently led in the polls and has also received the support of 16 ministers from Legault\u2019s cabinet, Finance Minister \u00c9ric Girard and Treasury Board President France-\u00c9laine Duranceau.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Image-2026-04-06T101941.151.jpg\")
Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette announced his endorsement of Bernard Drainville for CAQ leadership as ministers Sonia B\u00e9langer and Jonatan Julien look on at a press conference in Montreal on April 6, 2026 (Gareth Madoc-Jones, CityNews)<\/p>\n
In announcing his endorsement, Jolin-Barrette said, that Drainville is the best person to embody the third nationalist voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been following the race; I\u2019ve been able to evaluate the proposals objectively, and I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that the core values of our political party, the CAQ, are embodied and championed by Bernard,\u201d who is \u201cthe person best suited to become premier,\u201d argued Jolin-Barrette.<\/p>\n
During the campaign, Drainville has often presented himself as the candidate best suited to defend Quebec\u2019s identity. In one of the two debates, he accused Fr\u00e9chette of flip-flopping on immigration and promised to have stricter immigration policies.<\/p>\n
B\u00e9langer said the former environment minister was the right choice for Quebec due to his convictions and style.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe understands what young people and families are going through, what people in the regions are going through, and he has the courage to tell it like it really is,\u201d B\u00e9langer said.<\/p>\n
The health minister also highlighted Drainville\u2019s \u201clove for Quebec,\u201d his \u201cauthenticity,\u201d and his \u201cvision for the healthcare system.\u201d The CAQ leadership candidate would, in particular, allow doctors practicing in the private sector to offer some of their services within the public system.<\/p>\n
She added that is best positioned to bring the CAQ back to its roots and its core values.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Image-2026-04-06T101935.404.jpg\")
Quebec Transport Minister Jonatan Julien announced his endorsement of Bernard Drainville for CAQ leadership at a press conference in Montreal on April 6, 2026 (Gareth Madoc-Jones, CityNews)<\/p>\n
Transport Minister Julien echoed B\u00e9langer in his endorsement of Drainville for CAQ\u2019s leadership said he would be able to take on other party leaders ahead of the provincial elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cBernard Drainville brings experience, strong convictions, and a deep understanding of the regions. He has led three ministries. He has held his own in this race from the start\u2014facing the press, weathering attacks, and holding his own in debates,\u201d Julien said.<\/p>\n
A \u2018major turning point\u2019 <\/p>\n
Various polls have shown that Fr\u00e9chette has been ahead of her rival since the start of the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut let\u2019s be careful, because polling firms obviously don\u2019t have access to membership lists,\u201d said Drainville, noting that it is the party members who will choose the new leader, who will effectively become premier.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing in the tracking calls we\u2019re currently conducting is that our support continues to grow,\u201d said the L\u00e9vis representative, adding that \u201cpeople who were undecided are now with us, and people who supported the other candidate, Christine, are now undecided or deciding to support us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The polling refers to a practice that involves identifying and recording the voting intentions of citizens or party members through door-to-door canvassing or telephone calls.<\/p>\n
The support of the three ministers marks \u201ca major turning point in the campaign\u201d that aligns \u201cwith what we\u2019re seeing on the ground,\u201d namely a \u201crallying that is currently taking place,\u201d added Drainville.<\/p>\n
Until now, Drainville had been able to count on the support of several CAQ members of the National Assembly, the Minister for the Economy, Samuel Poulin, and leaders of the CAQ\u2019s youth wing.<\/p>\n
The new leader will be announced on April 12 at the party convention in Drummondville.<\/p>\n
\u2014 With files from La Presse Canadienne<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former CAQ minister and leadership candidate Bernard Drainville received the backing of three of his former cabinet colleagues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-586257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}