Quebec Premier Bails As Province Flirts With Leaving Canada Entirely

Quebec Premier François Legault resigned Wednesday as a separatist party surges in the polls and threatens to tear Canada’s second-largest province from the federation.

Legault announced his exit at the Quebec City legislature ahead of the Oct. 5 provincial vote, according to CBC News. His Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) party has cratered to just 10 percent support. The separatist Parti Québécois (PQ) had 31 percent support and appears poised to win a majority government, according to a Pallas Data poll.

The PQ’s leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has vowed to hold an independence referendum if elected, according to the Globe and Mail. (RELATED: Liberal Party Chooses Mark Carney As New Canadian PM As Trudeau Era Closes)

Quebec voters narrowly rejected sovereignty in 1995 when 50.58 percent chose to remain in Canada. A third vote could fracture the country at a moment of economic uncertainty.

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University, told the Associated Press that Legault is “the least popular premier in the country right now.”

Ce matin, M. @francoislegault , fondateur et chef de la CAQ et premier ministre du Québec, a annoncé aux Québécois qu’il quittait son poste. La CAQ souhaite remercier le premier ministre pour toutes les avancées qu’il a permises pour notre économie, pour la gestion de la crise… pic.twitter.com/FWUN0OtYQ5

— Coalition Avenir Québec (@coalitionavenir) January 14, 2026

Béland warned that the timing for any secession push is reckless.

“The presence of Donald Trump in the White House should give pause to those who think a provincial independence referendum is a good idea in the current context,” he said.

The CAQ has been in freefall. Two cabinet ministers quit in fall 2025 over policy disagreements, according to CBC.

Legault acknowledged voters wanted him gone. “I’m seeing now that many Quebecers are hoping and wanting a change and a change in premier,” he said at a news conference, CBC reported.

The outgoing premier defended his seven-year tenure.

“Of course, there were a few failures — we have talked about them a lot — but there was a lot of success above all,” he told reporters.

Legault founded the CAQ and won majority governments in 2018 and 2022. He will stay on until the party picks a replacement.