JAY GOLDBERG: Conservatives must look to Quebec election for inspiration

There are signs across the country that conservatives are winning the battle of ideas.

Published Oct 08, 2026  •  Last updated 5 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Conservative Party of Quebec Leader Éric Duhaime makes a speech at an election watch party in Lévis, Que., on Oct. 5, 2026.  Photo by Pascal Ratthé /Postmedia Network

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As the federal Conservative Party continues to trail Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals substantially in the polls, the Conservative Party of Quebec made an historic breakthrough in Monday’s provincial election, sending members to the National Assembly for the first time in 90 years.

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The Quebec Conservatives, under the leadership of Éric Duhaime, will have official party status and will become the third-largest party in the legislature. In fact, 19 Conservative MNAs will be going to Quebec City.

While the Parti Québécois will form the government, it will form a minority government, offering the Conservatives a chance for tremendous influence, now holding the balance of power.

Over the course of the campaign, it was Duhaime’s Conservatives who gained the most in the polls, while the governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) saw its support plummet.

For years, the CAQ had sold itself as a right-of-centre alternative for Quebec voters. But under the leadership of two consecutive premiers, the CAQ failed to deliver on conservative priorities, particularly when it came to fiscal policy. Taxes in Quebec are still out of control, while deficit spending went through the roof.

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How did Duhaime do it? How did he convince Quebecers to vote for a party that hasn’t won a seat in the National Assembly for 90 years?

Duhaime did it by being unapologetically conservative and focusing on fiscal policy.

On the tax front, Duhaime promised to increase the basic personal exemption from roughly $19,000 to $35,000, saving households nearly $2,000 annually once fully phased in. He also promised to eliminate sales taxes on used goods, suspend the gas tax for five months and withdraw Quebec from California’s cap-and-trade system.

On spending, Duhaime again wasn’t afraid to be conservative. He vowed to cut government spending by $47 billion over five years, as well as cut the size of the civil service by roughly 20,000 positions by not hiring replacements for those bureaucrats who retire.

After that, Duhaime promised to balance the books within four years and deliver further income tax relief.

On health care, Duhaime’s plan included the ability for Quebecers to use their public health insurance card to access private sector services at the government’s expense as a means of helping to reduce wait times. He also promised to eliminate bureaucracy and increase admission to Quebec’s medical faculties.

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Duhaime pledged to lift the province of Quebec’s ban on oil and gas extraction as well.

These are common-sense conservative ideas that haven’t found popular support in Quebec for some time. But taxpayers in Quebec, tired of big government, high taxes and runaway government spending, are starting to realize that old ideas simply aren’t the answer.

Even the Parti Québécois, a party that has long embraced socialist ideas, put forward plans to cut taxes and government spending during the campaign.

Conservatives across the country may be demoralized by Carney’s commanding lead in the polls. But there are signs across the country that conservatives are winning the battle of ideas. Whether it’s a breakthrough in Quebec, getting the Carney Liberals to scrap the carbon tax and embrace oil and gas, provincial and federal gas tax suspensions, or the increasingly accepted view that government isn’t the answer to every problem, there is reason for conservative optimism.

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One area that hasn’t seen enough attention, however, is deficit spending. So-called conservative governments across Canada, apart from Alberta’s United Conservative government, are running massive deficits. Many are using the present trade conflict as an excuse, but deficit spending began long before U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office. While many conservative ideas have regained their footing in Canada as of late, it’s time for balanced budgets to have the same kind of renaissance in the public consciousness as was the case in the 1990s.

Still, the resurgence of conservative ideas is encouraging. Federally, Carney is doing well politically, in part because he has adopted many of them. If the Conservatives want a road map for the future, they should look to Quebec, where Duhaime found success by being unapologetically conservative and focusing on pocketbook issues that matter to voters.

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