Three strikes and you’re out.
That’s how political watchers are interpreting the CAQ’s third straight byelection defeat to the Parti Québécois.
The latest came Monday night in the Arthabaska riding, with Alex Boissonneault flipping a seat that François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Quebec has held since 2012.
READ: PQ’s Alex Boissonneault wins Arthabaska byelection
The win cemented the sovereigntist party’s momentum ahead of the 2026 provincial election and dealt yet another crushing blow to Legault’s governing party, which finished a distant fourth with seven per cent of the vote.
“It’s the end of the CAQ era,” political analyst Karim Boulos told CityNews. “I think this is the last opportunity that they had to try to show that they’re still relevant for Quebecers and they failed miserably.”
Boulos believes Quebec voters are starting to see the PQ as the stronger alternative to the CAQ, casting their ballots as a way to reject the governing party.
“The electorate said, you know, we think that the PQ would be a much better vote because we need to punish the CAQ,” he said. “We need to tell them that we disagree with their policies.”
Legault said he took “full responsibility” for the loss.
Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon called the victory “highly significant,” noting it was the party’s first win in the riding in 27 years.
St-Pierre Plamondon, who has promised to hold a third independence vote by 2030 if his party forms government, said the result is also “a defeat for parties who had the fear of a referendum as their only argument.”
“If you live in Quebec and consider yourself Quebecois: welcome home, this is your party,” the PQ leader said.
CityNews spoke to Montrealers downtown about what they think are the reasons behind the PQ skyrocketing in the polls and at the ballot box. They say Quebecers feel the PQ is a safe bet for change in the province.
“Northvolt and all the other projects, all the money that we gave the government for those big projects that ended up not being done. So we’re ready for a change,” Jacqueline Auger said.
“You know when you make a promise to someone, you said, ‘I’ll give you this if I do that,’ right? If you uphold that promise, you should be doing a good job. I think it’s very simple,” said Djimitry Collis.
Added Mila: “Some people, they’re scared of losing maybe their culture, they don’t know where it’s gonna happen. So maybe in this moment of uncertainty, they attach themselves more to this party.”
–With files from The Canadian Press
