By: Ebenezer Adu-Gyamfi / Emmanuel Ayiku for GhanaianNewsCanada. 14/1/2026
François Legault, the nationalist Quebec Premier who has toughened language laws but shelved talk of separation, announced on Wednesday that he would resign just months before a scheduled provincial election.
In a hastily arranged news conference at the National Assembly in Quebec City, Mr. Legault said he would step aside after more than seven years in power amidst declining poll numbers and a series of contentious reforms.
“Quebeckers want change and, among other things, a change of Premier,” he said.
The announcement shakes up Quebec’s political landscape, with the Parti Québécois leading in the polls and promising a third sovereignty referendum in a first mandate.
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That adds to the uncertainty around national unity stemming from a growing Alberta independence movement and U.S. President Donald Trump’s previous threats to turn Canada into the 51st state.
Still, it is unclear who stands to gain from Mr. Legault’s departure, and the upheaval will not necessarily work in favour of the PQ, said Dimitri Soudas, a political analyst and former director of communications for prime minister Stephen Harper. The sovereigntist party “had managed to capture the voters that wanted to throw François Legault out,” he said.
That appeal, he says, “has just vanished.”
Quebeckers are scheduled to go to the polls on Oct. 5.
Questions remain about the viability of Mr. Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec without the only leader it has ever known. The former PQ cabinet minister and co-founder of Air Transat held together a fragile coalition of disillusioned sovereigntists and conservative federalists that risks coming apart without its linchpin.
“The party is very much centered around him,” said Antonine Yaccarini, a political analyst and former PQ and CAQ staffer. “It will be a challenge for the CAQ to survive [his] departure.”
