The 2018 Quebec general election was held on October 1, 2018, to elect members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The election saw a landslide victory for the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) led by François Legault, which won 74 of 125 seats, giving the party a majority and unseating the Quebec Liberal Party. The Liberals became the official opposition with 31 seats.
This election was the first won by the CAQ, which had previously been the third party in the legislature. It was also the first since 1966 that had been won by a party other than the Liberals or Parti Québécois.
Background In Quebec the Liberal Party had held power since 2003, save for a period of less than two years between 2012 and 2014.
The National Assembly has had a fixed four-year term since passing a fixed election date law in 2013. The law stipulates that "the general election following the end of a Legislature shall be held on the first Monday of October of the fourth calendar year following the year that includes the last day of the previous Legislature", setting the date for October 1, 2018. However, the Chief Electoral Officer could have changed the election date in the event of a natural disaster. Furthermore, the Lieutenant Governor could have called an election sooner should the Premier have requested one, or in the event the government had been dissolved by a motion of no confidence.
Redistribution of ridings The Commission de la représentation électorale performed a redistribution in 2017, which maintained the number of seats in the National Assembly at 125 for the next general election, making the following alterations:
Abolished ridings New ridingsRenaming of districts Crémazie Maurice-RichardDrawn from other districts PrévostFrom parts of Bertrand and Rousseau Les PlainesFrom parts of Mirabel, Blainville and MassonMerger of districts Laviolette Saint-Maurice Laviolette–Saint-Maurice Mont-Royal Outremont Mont-Royal–Outremont
Timeline
Party standings
|- style="background:#ccc;" ! rowspan="2" colspan="2" style="text-align:left;"|Party ! rowspan="2" style="text-align:left;"|Party leader ! colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|Seats |- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;" ||2014 |style="font-size:80%;"|Dissolution
|align=left|Philippe Couillard |70 ||68
|align=left|Jean-François Lisée |30 ||28
|align=left|François Legault |22 ||21
|align=left|Manon Massé |3 ||3
| style="text-align:left;" colspan="2"| |0 ||5
| style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"|Vacant |0 |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"|Total !125 !!125
Seat changes (2014–2017)
+ 41st National Assembly of Quebec - Movement in seats held from 2014 to 2018PartyLeader2014Gain/(loss) due to2018 Resignation Resigned from party Death in office Withdrawn from caucus Expulsion By-election hold By-election gainPhilippe Couillard70 (6) (1) (2) 5 167Jean-François Lisée30 (5) (1) (1) 5 28François Legault22 (2) (1) (1) 1 221Manon Massé3 (1) 1 3– 2 (1) 1 4 6Total 125 (14) – (1) – – 12 3125
+ Changes in seats held (2014–2018) Seat Before ChangeDateMemberPartyReasonDateMemberPartyLévisAugust 15, 2014Christian DubéResignationOctober 20, 2014François ParadisRichelieuSeptember 29, 2014Élaine ZakaïbResignationMarch 9, 2015Sylvain RochonJean-TalonFebruary 26, 2015Yves BolducResignationalso from the position of Minister of EducationJune 8, 2015Sébastien ProulxChauveauApril 7, 2015 Gérard DeltellResignationto run for the Conservatives in Louis-Saint-LaurentJune 8, 2015Véronyque TremblaySaint-Henri–Sainte-AnneAugust 21, 2015Marguerite BlaisResignationNovember 9, 2015Dominique AngladeFabreAugust 24, 2015Gilles OuimetResignationNovember 9, 2015Monique SauvéArthabaskaAugust 26, 2015Sylvie RoyResigned from partyRené-LévesqueSeptember 3, 2015Marjolain DufourResignationNovember 9, 2015Martin OuelletBeauce-SudSeptember 22, 2015Robert DutilResignationNovember 9, 2015Paul BusqueChicoutimiOctober 22, 2015Stéphane BédardResignationApril 11, 2016Mireille JeanSaint-JérômeMay 2, 2016Pierre Karl PéladeauResignationalso from the positions of PQ leader and Leader of the OppositionDecember 5, 2016Marc BourcierMarie-VictorinJune 13, 2016Bernard DrainvilleResignationalso from the position of Opposition House LeaderDecember 5, 2016Catherine FournierArthabaskaJuly 31, 2016Sylvie RoyDied in officeDecember 5, 2016Éric LefebvreVerdunAugust 19, 2016Jacques DaoustResignationalso from the position of Minister of Transport, Sustainable Mobility and Transport ElectrificationDecember 5, 2016Isabelle MelançonLaurier-DorionOctober 20, 2016Gerry SklavounosExpulsionGouinJanuary 19, 2017Françoise DavidResignationMay 29, 2017Gabriel Nadeau-DuboisGroulxJanuary 25, 2017Claude SurprenantExpulsionBrome-MissisquoiJanuary 27, 2017Pierre ParadisExpulsionVachonFebruary 5, 2017Martine OuelletResigned from partyto seek the Bloc Québécois leadershipLouis-HébertApril 27, 2017Sam HamadResignationOctober 2, 2017Geneviève GuilbaultGaspéMay 16, 2017Gaétan LelièvreExpulsionArgenteuilApril 17, 2018Yves St-DenisWithdraws from caucus
Other developments Date EventApril 7, 2014The Quebec Liberal Party wins a majority government in the 41st Quebec general election, and Philippe Couillard becomes Quebec's Premier-designate. Outgoing Premier Pauline Marois announces her resignation as Parti Québécois leader.April 10, 2014The Parti Québécois caucus unanimously approves Stéphane Bédard as interim leader.October 4, 2014PQ riding association presidents meet to decide rules and timeline for its leadership race.May 15, 2015Pierre Karl Péladeau is elected leader of the Parti Québécois.May 6, 2016Sylvain Gaudreault is appointed interim PQ leader.October 7, 2016Jean-François Lisée is elected leader of the Parti Québécois.March 24, 2017Québec solidaire announces that its party members will vote on a proposition at its party convention in May to begin talks to merge with Option nationale.May 21, 2017Manon Massé and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois are elected as co-spokespersons for Québec solidaire.Incumbents Françoise David and Andrés Fontecilla did not seek reelection for a new mandate.October 5, 2017Executives of QS and ON reach an agreement to propose a merger, which has yet to be approved by members/delegates in two special congresses.October 26, 2017Guy Ouellette, MNA for Chomedey, withdraws from the caucus of the Liberal Party. He rejoins the caucus on November 21.December 10, 2017ON and QS decide to merge: ON's special congress approves merger at 90%, 8 days after QS's special congress approved it at 80%.May 10, 2018Paul Busque, MNA for Beauce-Sud, withdraws from the caucus of the Liberal Party during an investigation by the ethics commissioner. On June 15, 2018, he is readmitted into the caucus.August 23, 2018Phillippe Couillard goes to see the Lieutenant-Governor and calls the election for October 1, 2018.August 29, 2018The 41st Legislature ends.Fixed date, per section 6 of the Act respecting the National Assembly (CS, c. A-23.1): "A Legislature ends on 29 August of the fourth calendar year following the year that includes the most recent general election polling day."September 13, 2018First televised debate (Radio-Canada).September 15, 2018Candidate nominations close.Election Act (CS, c. E-3.3), section 237September 17, 2018Second televised debate (CTV). English debate.September 20, 2018Third televised debate (TVA).
Incumbents not running for reelection As of September 5, 2018, a total of 45 MNAs elected in 2014 will not run in the 2018 election, of whom 12 resigned14 members elected in the 2014 general election resigned from the National Assembly during the 41st Legislature, but two of them (Marguerite Blais and Christian Dubé) are candidates again in the 2018 general election. from the National Assembly, one died in office and 32 announced that they will not seek re-election including one whose riding was dissolved, and one who got fired. The latter comprise the following:
Electoral DistrictIncumbent at dissolution and subsequent nomineeNew MNAAbitibi-Ouest François GendronSylvain Vachon Suzanne Blais Beauce-Nord André SpénardLuc Provençal Luc ProvençalBeauharnois Guy LeclairMireille Théorêt Claude ReidBertrand Claude CousineauGilbert Lafrenière Nadine Girault Bourassa-Sauvé Rita de SantisPaule Robitaille Paule RobitailleBrome-Missisquoi Pierre ParadisIngrid Marini Isabelle CharestCôte-du-Sud Norbert MorinSimon Laboissonnière Marie-Eve ProulxGaspé Gaétan Lelièvre– Méganne Perry-MélançonGatineau Stéphanie ValléeLuce Farrell Robert BussièreGroulx Claude SurprenantEric Girard Eric GirardÎles-de-la-Madeleine Germain ChevarieMaryse Lapierre Joël Arseneau Jacques-Cartier Geoffrey KelleyGreg Kelley Greg Kelley Jean-Lesage André DroletGertrude Bourdon Sol ZanettiLac-Saint-Jean Alexandre CloutierWilliam Fradette Éric GirardLaurier-Dorion Gerry Sklavounos– Andrés FontecillaLotbinière-Frontenac Laurent LessardPierre-Luc Daigle Isabelle LecoursMarguerite-Bourgeoys Robert PoëtiHélène David Hélène DavidMarquette François OuimetEnrico Ciccone Enrico Ciccone Mégantic Ghislain BolducRobert G. Roy François JacquesMercier Amir KhadirRuba Ghazal Ruba Ghazal Montmorency Raymond BernierMarie France Trudel Jean-François SimardNelligan Martin CoiteuxMonsef Derraji Monsef DerrajiOrford Pierre ReidGuy Madore Gilles BélangerPointe-aux-Trembles Nicole LégerJean-Martin Aussant Chantal RouleauPortneuf Michel MattePhilippe Gasse Vincent CaronRichmond Karine VallièresAnnie Godbout André BachandSaint-François Guy HardyCharles Poulin Geneviève HébertSaint-Laurent Jean-Marc FournierMarwah Rizqy Marwah RizqyTaschereau Agnès MaltaisDiane Lavallée Catherine DorionVachon Martine Ouellet– Ian LafrenièreViau David HeurtelFrantz Benjamin Frantz BenjaminWestmount–Saint-Louis Jacques ChagnonJennifer Maccarone Jennifer Maccarone
At the end of his term, Gendron, Dean of the National Assembly, will have served for 41 years and 10 months, representing Abitibi-Ouest for 11 terms.
Campaign The election saw the first ever English language debate between the leaders of Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), Parti Québécois (PQ), Québec solidaire and the Quebec Liberal Party. As of 2026 these the most recent English language debates in a Quebec election.
Contests + Candidate contests in the ridingsCandidates nominated Ridings PartyCAQPQPLQQSPCQGreenNDPIndOthTotals4 2 2 2 2 2 85 4 4 4 4 4 3 1 206 24 24 24 24 24 15 12 4 10 1 2 1 2 1 1447 40 40 40 40 40 32 33 15 15 7 5 3 3 2 2 3 2808 22 22 22 22 22 22 20 11 10 7 6 5 1 1 1 2 2 1769 22 22 22 22 22 19 21 19 15 6 6 9 5 3 3 2 2 19810 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 3 6 4 2 3 3 1 3 1 8011 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2212 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12Total 125 125 125 125 125 101 97 59 56 29 25 21 16 12 8 7 9 940
Slogans Parties French English Refs Pour faciliter la vie des Québécois "To facilitate the lives of Quebecers""To make life easier for Quebecers" Sérieusement. "Seriously." Maintenant. "Now." Populaires. "Popular." Bien plus qu'une couleur. "More than just a colour." Je vote conservateur. "I vote conservative."
Issues The election was believed to be the first in almost half a century that had not been fought on the issue of whether Quebec should stay in Canada. The PQ had promised not to hold another referendum on sovereignty until 2022 at the earliest had it won.
+ 2018 Quebec election – issues and respective party platformsIssueQLPPQCAQQSEconomy and Public Finance Have tabled five budgets since taking power in 2014; four of them have been balanced. The 2018 budget increased spending by 4.7 per cent, one of the highest increases in the past 20 years. Plan to spend $440 million over the next five years encouraging entrepreneurship in the province. Advocates economic nationalism. They want Quebec's pension fund manager — the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec — to help prevent corporate headquarters from leaving the province. The party would also impose a 25 per cent-Quebec content requirement on all Caisse infrastructure projects.