{"id":63912,"date":"2025-08-12T12:03:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T12:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/63912\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T12:03:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T12:03:10","slug":"pqs-alex-boissonneault-wins-arthabaska-by-election-defeating-quebec-conservative-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/63912\/","title":{"rendered":"PQ\u2019s Alex Boissonneault wins Arthabaska by-election, defeating Quebec Conservative leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

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PQ candidate Alex Boissonneault at an election party in Victoriaville, Que., on Monday. Boissonneault handily defeated Quebec Conservative Leader \u00c9ric Duhaime in the by-election in Quebec’s Arthabaska riding.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois sailed to a third-straight Quebec by-election win on Monday, cementing the sovereigntist party\u2019s momentum ahead of the 2026 provincial election and dealing a crushing blow to Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault\u2019s governing party.<\/p>\n

Former journalist Alex Boissonneault handily defeated Quebec Conservative Leader \u00c9ric Duhaime in the Arthabaska riding, flipping a seat that Legault\u2019s Coalition Avenir Quebec has held since 2012.<\/p>\n

While polls had suggested Boissonneault and Duhaime were neck-and-neck, the PQ candidate captured over 46 per cent of the vote, compared to just over 35 per cent for Duhaime.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight, we have achieved an extraordinary feat,\u201d Boissonneault told supporters. \u201cWe have just reclaimed the magnificent corner of the country that is ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Boissonneault celebrates his by-election win on Monday night.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The sovereigntist party also won in Jean-Talon in 2023 and Terrebonne earlier this year. The party sits fourth in seat count in the province\u2019s legislature, but has been leading in the polls for the better part of two years. <\/p>\n

Boissonneault, who was born and grew up in the riding, campaigned on a promise to restore a \u201cbroken social contract\u201d that sees Quebeckers pay high taxes without getting enough in return.<\/p>\n

Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon called the victory \u201chighly significant,\u201d noting it was the party\u2019s first win in the riding in 27 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also a very significant victory because we\u2019re adding another key piece, another pillar of what could constitute a team capable of replacing the CAQ and forming a solid government in 2026,\u201d he told a jubilant watch party in the riding midway between Montreal and Quebec City.<\/p>\n

Supporters at the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois event exploded with joy when the results were announced shortly before 10 p.m., waving blue-and-white Quebec flags. They chanted \u201cAlex! Alex!\u201d and, during St-Pierre Plamondon\u2019s speech, \u201cQuebec! A country!\u201d<\/p>\n

St-Pierre Plamondon, who has promised to hold a third independence vote by 2030 if his party forms government, said the result is also \u201ca defeat for parties who had the fear of a referendum as their only argument.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duhaime had been hoping to win a first legislature seat for the party he revived from obscurity when he took over as leader in 2021. During the campaign, he advocated for scrapping electric vehicle mandates and the carbon-pricing system as well as increased privatization in health care.<\/p>\n

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Quebec Conservative Leader \u00c9ric Duhaime had been hoping to win a first legislature seat for the party.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Duhaime said Monday that the by-election was a missed opportunity to correct what he has termed the \u201cdistortion\u201d of the 2022 election that saw his party capture 13 per cent of the vote but no seats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more than one out of eight Quebeckers who will have zero out of 125 representatives in the worst democratic distortion in the history of Quebec,\u201d he said. \u201cToday it wasn\u2019t just the Conservative Party of Quebec that lost, it\u2019s Quebec democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he noted that his party started \u201calmost from zero\u201d four years ago. \u201cWe\u2019re the party that progresses all the time,\u201d he said, promising to redouble efforts ahead of the 2026 election.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s defeat was also a bitter loss for the governing Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec, which lost a riding it has held since 2012 with a distant fourth-place finish.<\/p>\n

In a speech delivered before the final result was announced, the Premier placed the blame on himself. \u201cI take full responsibility for today\u2019s defeat,\u201d he told supporters. <\/p>\n

Legault acknowledged voters\u2019 unhappiness with his government, citing the disastrous rollout of an online platform for the auto insurance board, a massive investment in an electric-battery plant whose future is uncertain, and a failure to improve the efficiency of public services. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the people of Arthabaska-L\u2019Erable were the spokespersons for all Quebeckers,\u201d he said in a speech alongside candidate Keven Brasseur. \u201cAnd they sent us a very clear, very direct message: They are disappointed. Quebeckers are disappointed with our government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Candidate Keven Brasseur of the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec gives remarks beside Premier Francois Legault, in Victoriaville, Que., on Monday. The party lost the riding with a distant fourth-place finish.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Legault indicated he still planned to run for re-election next year, telling supporters he felt his experience was still needed to help reshape Quebec\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

The Quebec Liberals, who have seen a bump in support under new leader Pablo Rodriguez, climbed to third after finishing fifth in the riding in the 2022 election.<\/p>\n

The by-election was triggered after Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec member \u00c9ric Lefebvre resigned to run successfully for the Conservative Party of Canada in the last federal election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: PQ candidate Alex Boissonneault at an election party in Victoriaville, Que., on Monday.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-63912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63912","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=63912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}