![\"Quebec](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0523-city-frechette-1.jpg\")
Quebec Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette Fr\u00e9chette has not ruled out spending more than the $250 million budgeted for the winner of the CAQ leadership race to spend on campaign promises. Evan Buhler \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\nL\u00c9VIS \u2014 Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette says if Montreal\u2019s hockey teams have been able prove their naysayers wrong this season, so can her Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec party and win the fall general election.<\/p>\n
Noting analysts and columnists have been predicting the demise of the CAQ for months, Fr\u00e9chette told troops at a general council meeting Saturday the party still has some fight left in it. Two fresh polls have shown the party under her leadership is gaining momentum.<\/p>\n
Quebec Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette Fr\u00e9chette has not ruled out spending more than the $250 million budgeted for the winner of the CAQ leadership race to spend on campaign promises. Evan Buhler \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
\u201cTo prove the predictions wrong, I will need you, each of you,\u201d Fr\u00e9chette told delegates in the hall. \u201cI need you to convince Quebecers, to convince your families, your friends, your neighbours, your work colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must\u00a0meet each Quebecer. We must shake every hand and knock on every door. We will have to say, loudly and strongly, why Quebec needs our coalition to defend our autonomy and propel our economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we do this, we\u2019ll resemble our hockey teams, our Victoire of Montreal, and the Canadiens of Montreal. We will prove all the predictions wrong, and we\u2019ll win the next elections. Let\u2019s get to work and Go Habs Go.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crowd of 650 CAQ members \u2014 many of them dressed in\u00a0hockey jerseys \u2014 loved it, breaking into a chorus of Bell Centre style Ol\u00e9 Ol\u00e9 Ol\u00e9 chanting. Fr\u00e9chette herself arrived for the meeting, the last one before the next election, wearing a Victoire jersey.<\/p>\n
When she visited Montreal Mayor Soraya\u00a0Martinez Ferrada in April, Fr\u00e9chette sported a Canadiens jersey.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear the CAQ as a political organization can get a bounce out of the current good mood of Quebecers, but Fr\u00e9chette seems ready to tap in.<\/p>\n
She is also continuing to put more and more distance between her \u201cnew\u201d government and the unpopular one headed by former premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault.<\/p>\n
In a 15-minute speech, she ran down a long list of what she has accomplished\u00a0in the 40 days she has been premier; from money for hospitals, tax cuts for small- and medium-size businesses and farmers, to economic missions to Ottawa, Washington and Paris.<\/p>\n
She added to the list new legislation to renew the notwithstanding clause shielding Bill 96 from court challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did all this in 40 days, imagine what can do in four years,\u201d Fr\u00e9chette told the crowd, which stood banging thunder sticks and waving signs.<\/p>\n
After saying the new No. 1\u00a0priority now is helping Quebecers deal with the soaring cost of living, Fr\u00e9chette announced a new measure: the government is cutting the\u00a0provincial sales tax on certain products at the grocery store and pharmacies.<\/p>\n
The list of products that will not be subject to the tax includes prepared fruits and vegetables, granola bars, muffins, nuts and bathroom tissue. The initiative will be announced Monday at a news conference in Sherbrooke.<\/p>\n
The sales tax cut will mean savings of about $50 a year per household, but cost the treasury about $100 million. Other measures are also in the works.<\/p>\n
Fr\u00e9chette said she wants to give Quebecers\u00a0\u201ca bit of air and the hand\u201d they need.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite all we have done we have to do still more,\u201d Fr\u00e9chette said. \u201cWe have to go still further.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her speech was also an\u00a0effort\u00a0to stimulate the troops for the battle ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was all positive spin for the CAQ and all negative for the two main opposition parties, which she said want to bring Quebec back 30 years in time with their talk of federalism vs. independence.<\/p>\n
She said Quebecers on Oct. 5 will have three options: voting for resignation, illusion or ambition.<\/p>\n
Resignation is represented by the Quebec Liberals, which she said are weak on language, laicity and even the fight against corruption.<\/p>\n
The Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois represents the illusion of another referendum, which two-thirds of Quebecers don\u2019t want.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello, planet Earth,\u201d Fr\u00e9chette quipped.<\/p>\n
She said only the CAQ, representing\u00a0ambition, remains the best\u00a0option for Quebecers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly a month ago, people did put much stock in our prospects,\u201d Fr\u00e9chette said. \u201cEven today, there is a lot of doubt that we have a chance to win the next election.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m convinced we can do it and I am convinced we will do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her speech came on the same days as Frechette said she has not excluded spending more than the $250 million her finance minister, Eric Girard,\u00a0left in the March budget to cover her leadership campaign promises, including the sales tax cut.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to help Quebecers because the cost of living is very difficult for Quebecers,\u201d Fr\u00e9chette told reporters in the morning. \u201cWe need to take actions to answer the needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need also to manage public finances in a responsible way. Both are my objectives. We need a good balance between the two.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see how it evolves. So far, we have been respecting the envelope that was set out. We will announce new actions in the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fr\u00e9chette specifically did not rule out spending more than the $250 million and she has already used some of it. She has announced the government would refund the welcome tax for first-time home buyers at a cost of $140 million.<\/p>\n
She announced a\u00a0tax cut for small- and medium-size businesses<\/a>\u00a0at a cost of $50 million for 2026. Refunding the carbon tax for agricultural producers, another promise, will cost the treasury $40 million.<\/p>\n The $100 million cost of cutting the sales tax will bring the total of Fr\u00e9chette\u2019s recent spending to $330 million.<\/p>\n But in an\u00a0email sent by Girard to Fr\u00e9chette and obtained by Radio-Canada<\/a>, Girard appears to warn the premier he is worried about her spending.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to underline that I am worried about the number of announcements made by the government since your election,\u201d Girard wrote.<\/p>\n He added Quebecers are \u201cintelligent\u201d and \u201cknow how to count\u201d and prefer a premier who acts responsibly and not spend wildly, a perception Quebecers had of the government when\u00a0Fran\u00e7ois Legault was premier<\/a>.<\/p>\n