Parties talk taxes, trade war and parental leave on Day 2 of Quebec election campaign

MONTREAL — Coalition Avenir Québec Leader Christine Fréchette came under attack from her rivals on Friday, as taxes, parental leave and the U.S. trade war all took centre stage during the first full day of campaigning on the Quebec election trail.

Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon promised to reduce taxes for Quebec businesses by 20 per cent in his first term as premier if his party wins the Oct. 5 election.

St-Pierre Plamondon made his announcement at the site of the cancelled Northvolt electric battery plant, which he described as a symbol of the failure of the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s “economic interventionism.”

The Quebec government pledged up to $2.9 billion in financing for the project, including a $270-million investment in the Swedish parent company that was lost when it went bankrupt. Fréchette was energy minister when the project was scrapped.

“A PQ government will shut off the tap of subsidies to foreign multinationals and focus on Quebec (small and medium businesses),” he said at the site in McMasterville, east of Montreal.

Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard focused on the ongoing trade war, and pledged to reduce the share of Quebec exports going to the United States by at least 15 per cent by diversifying its markets.

He made his announcement alongside candidate Madeleine Féquière, who served until recently as Canada’s Consul General in Chicago and who will run for a seat in the Laval area, north of Montreal.

Milliard brushed off the results of a new survey that indicates his party has lost ground, as well as a suggestion that the province’s federalists are turning to the Coalition Avenir Québec.

“Federalists would do well to remember that if one is serious about the issue of belonging to Canada — about helping Quebec grow within Canada — it takes a leader and a team that haven’t shied away from saying so,” he said.

He noted that several of the candidates flanking Fréchette “certainly aren’t the apostles of federalism,” in reference to several cabinet ministers who have previously refused to say how they would vote in an eventual sovereignty referendum.

His comments came after a Synopsis-La Presse survey showed the Parti Québécois and the CAQ running neck and neck, representing a significant rise in support for Fréchette’s party and a drop for the Liberals.

Fréchette, meanwhile, rolled out a promise to boost the Quebec parental insurance plan to offer an additional two weeks of leave for fathers as well as more flexibility and bereavement leave. Her proposed changes include allowing parents to transfer some of their leave to another involved adult, such as a grandparent.

She said the changes could be made without increasing premiums.

As she faced criticism from the other leaders, Fréchette was on the offensive herself, going to campaign south of Quebec City in the Bellechasse riding where Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime is running.

In Sherbrooke, Québec solidaire expanded on a promise to open a network of 15 public grocery stores, as part of a plan to lower the cost of food.

The Conservatives, campaigning in Quebec City, announced what Duhaime called a “historic” tax cut that would include raising the basic personal amount in Quebec’s income tax brackets from $18,952 to $35,242.

Duhaime also went after Fréchette, saying that “the real threat over the last eight years is the Fréchette threat” when asked if voters were turning to the CAQ leader amid the U.S. trade war.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2026.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press