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The Parti Québécois has won Monday’s Chicoutimi byelection, making it the fourth consecutive byelection won by the party with less than eight months remaining before the province’s general election.
Marie-Karlynn Laflamme had more than 45 per cent of the votes, ahead of Catherine Morissette of the Conservative Party of Quebec, who had just over 26 per cent of the votes, after all 142 polling stations reported.
“Tonight, my friends, we are returning to our roots. We are sending the same pioneering message to the rest of our region as we are to the rest of Quebec: the time has come to change the way we govern ourselves in Quebec,” said Laflamme at a PQ rally just before 10 p.m.
Laflamme is the former vice-rector of the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, which is in her riding, more than 200 kilometres northwest of Quebec City.
The riding had been a PQ stronghold before Andrée Laforest captured it twice for Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), first in 2018 and again in 2022.
Chicoutimi has been vacant since Laforest, a former cabinet minister, left provincial politics in September for an unsuccessful bid at mayor in Saguenay.
Provincewide, the PQ is high in the polls ahead of the provincial election slated for October, and leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon promises to hold a sovereignty referendum by 2030 if he’s elected premier.
Parti Québécois candidate Marie-Karlynn Laflamme has reclaimed the Chicoutimi riding for her party, marking the PQ’s fourth consecutive byelection victory. The seat, previously held by the Coalition Avenir Québec, returned to its PQ roots as voters looked toward the fall general election and questions of sovereignty.
PQ leader on forming ‘a true government’
Speaking to the PQ rally Monday evening, St-Pierre Plamondon gave a passionate speech about the future of the province and party in uncertain times, especially given the tense relations with the United States.
He mentioned the referendum discussions in Alberta and criticized the CAQ for controversies such as SAAQclic and Northvolt.
“We are proposing that Quebecers form a true government where it’s the interests of the public that guide our decisions and not the mood of the moment or the polls of day,” he said.
Francis Tremblay was attempting to keep the riding for the CAQ. Even though defeat was expected for his party, the outcome is still a heavy blow as the CAQ’s popularity has waned after nearly two terms as the majority government.
Morissette said she would have liked to win the riding for the Conservatives, but at the same time, she was happy to see that her party had tripled its score since the 2022 elections.
“It sends an extremely strong signal to the rest of Quebec. Look in the mirror, we’re coming,” she said.
Jeanne Palardy ran with Québec Solidaire and Tricia Murray represented the Liberals.
The byelection took place with a leadership race underway for the CAQ, as Premier François Legault has announced he’s stepping down.
Meanwhile, the Quebec Liberals announced their new leader, Charles Milliard, on Feb. 13.
The PQ will now have seven members in the National Assembly, four more than after the 2022 general election. Before Chicoutimi, the PQ had successively won byelections in Jean-Talon, Terrebonne and Arthabaska.
Pascal Paradis, who won the Jean-Talon riding in 2023, told Radio-Canada on Monday evening that Laflamme will be “an extraordinary” MNA for the riding.
“We have returned to Chicoutimi. We have returned to the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region,” he said.
Polls were open between 9:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. and early data from the province’s elections office indicated 11.67 per cent of electors had cast advanced ballots.
