Mulcair: Quebec’s new premier ‘ has steadfastly refused to say a word of English’

There might be a new premier in Quebec, but according to former NDP leader and Quebec Liberal cabinet minister Tom Mulcair, it’s the same old, same old CAQ coming out of the National Assembly.

 ”This is where I see (premier) Christine Fréchette playing the same old games, a very divisive approach to politics, and I think it’s going to be very hurtful to her chances in the next election,” Mulcair said to hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth from Snowdon Deli.

Aaron Rand and Bill Brownstein chat with Tom Mulcair on The Corner Booth at the Snowdon Deli in Montreal on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. Dave Sidaway / Montreal Gazette

So far, Mulcair has seen a new leader unable to establish herself as a fresh voice for a party that’s expected to get tossed from power in this fall’s provincial election.

This week, we’ve seen party mainstay, French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge talk about extending Bill 101 to adult and vocational education. Between Roberge and Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette still beating the drum for Quebec’s proposed constitution, Mulcair said Fréchette “hasn’t stood up to them.”

“ She’s gone along with them because she figures she has to keep them in tow. She’s not going to be able to pull it off.”

Mulcair added that even former premier François Legault would speak in English to the anglophone community, unlike Fréchette, who despite being fluent, has spoken sparingly to English-speaking voters.

 ”François Legault was no friend of the English-speaking community, but he always understood that there were a million people in Quebec for whom English is the first official language.  And guess what? He would always throw a couple of sentences in English into his key speeches in the (National Assembly),” Mulcair said.

“ She has steadfastly refused to say a word of English.”

“ She has steadfastly refused to say a word of English,” Mulcair says of new Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette. Dave Sidaway / Montreal Gazette

As Mulcair sees it, all this adds up to a likely two-way battle to form Quebec’s next government between the Parti Québécois and Quebec Liberals. So far, the polls seem to bear that out.

 ”I predicted it a year ago in the federal election. I said, ‘Get out of the way. NDP’s going to be squashed on the side of the road. This is going be a two-way battle. Carney’s Liberals, Poilievre’s Conservatives. There’s no room for other players.’

“Same thing’s going to happen here. Seventy per cent of Quebecers want nothing to do with a referendum, and even less to do with separation.

“ The 70 per cent of Quebecers who don’t want a referendum or separation are going to come to a strategic choice in the last few weeks of the campaign. Who’s the vehicle who can make sure that doesn’t happen?”

The Corner Booth is also available on The Gazette’s YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts and on Spotify.

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