I am far from a political analyst. I’ve spent days reading and listening to pundits’ two cents on what will or won’t happen in this Quebec election, who has an advantage over whom, who is best positioned to defend Quebec in this trade war, who has the most to lose, and on and on and on, and I’m no better for it.

What I’ve learned is that there’s a lot of noise out there right now – people trying to make sense of this moment in Quebec politics. And it is, no doubt, an interesting moment. All five leaders are relatively fresh in their political careers. Two of them (PLQ’s Charles Milliard and PCQ’s Éric Duhaim) don’t hold seats in the National Assembly, and two of them (PQ’s Paul St-Pierre Plamondon and CAQ’s Christine Fréchette) have held a seat for a single term. Quebec solidaire’s co-spokespeople Ruba Ghazal and Sol Zanetti are the veterans in the race when it comes to experience as elected representatives, as each have held their seats since 2018. 

As fresh faces, these candidates have an opportunity to distinguish themselves from their parties’ troubled legacies in this province. Fréchette is certainly doing whatever she can on this front. The optimist in me sees this as an opportunity for voters to really try and hear what it is our candidates are promising to do for us. 

We have many things worth celebrating and protecting in this province. Subsidized childcare and CEGEP spots and low university tuition rates make education more accessible than in any other province. Our publicly owned hydro company, though perhaps lacking in its service delivery in this corner of the province, still brings us some of the lowest electricity rates in North America. René Lévesque, founder of the Parti Québecois, was responsible for many of these policies that built a strong social net for Quebecers. But he also, of course, insisted on French as the province’s only official language (Bill 101) and was an advocate for an independent Quebec. 

In Quebec, it seems, governments that see their role as one of providing quality essential services for the people they serve also insist on doing so as a separate nation, through the exclusion of some threatening ‘other’. But now is not the time for a conversation about sovereignty. Not now, when months and months of trade talks with the U.S. have culminated in that country’s president sharing an AI-generated video depicting machine gun-carrying Canadian geese, adorned in Trump-style coifs, patrolling the shores of Trump’s imagined Lake America. Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon seems to have understood this, announcing last month that he won’t hold any kind of vote on the matter until after Trump is out of office. 

So we have a window now to stop talking about a referendum and focus instead on which parties, which candidates, will make life affordable again; will rebuild the healthcare network, especially in the Outaouais; will stop cutting funding to the public education system; will better manage the province’s purse strings so that millions of taxpayer dollars aren’t being flushed down the drain. And yes, will defend Quebec’s key industries from the threats south of the border. Whichever party is elected to form government will control many of the most important services and institutions that carry us through our daily lives. 

THE EQUITY is still working out exactly what shape its election coverage will take. As is the case across the province, our ability to hold one of our usual Conversation with the Candidates events will depend on the participation of, you guessed it, the candidates. But whatever form our coverage takes, we are genuinely curious to hear from those running about their visions for this province, and particularly, the Pontiac.