Five things to watch in Quebec’s municipal elections for Nov. 2

MONTREAL — Voters across Quebec will soon be heading off to the polls to elect their municipal leaders. Here are five things to keep an eye on as the Nov. 2 election day approaches.

Voter turnout

Voter participation was low in the last two municipal elections in Quebec.

In 2021, only about 39 per cent of Quebecers voted, down from about 45 per cent in the 2017 election.

Montreal saw a voter turnout of 38 per cent in 2021 — down from 42 per cent in 2017.

Laval, the third largest city in the province, saw only 28 per cent of eligible voters lining up to cast a vote in 2021. Participation was much higher in Quebec City, however, the province’s second largest city, which saw 45 per cent taking part in that year’s vote.

With the ongoing postal strike Quebec’s election officer had concerns citizens might not receive critical information about the election soon enough.

Gender parity not reached this in this election

Quebec’s Department of Municipal Affairs hoped to see women make up 40 to 60 per cent of all municipal candidates but that target won’t be reached. Women make up 36 per cent of the candidates this year, a slight increase from the 2021 election period, when they made up 35.5 per cent. That amounts to just over 4,500 women, 239 more than in 2021.

A 2023 report out of the University of Calgary shows that across Canada women made up only 31 per cent of all elected municipal representatives, with only 22 holding office as mayor. About 16 per cent of councils surveyed had no women.

Bus and metro strike to coincide with Montreal election

Roughly 2,400 transit workers are expected to be on strike on election day in Montreal. On Thursday, Marie-Claude Léonard, the network’s general director, aired concerns about it possibly getting in the way of the population exercising its democratic right.

Quebec’s labour tribunal has yet to decide how much service will be needed that day, but will likely take the election into consideration. When a prior transit strike coincided with Grand Prix weekend this past June, the tribunal had ruled bus and metro service then had to remain fully intact to accommodate the large number of tourists passing through the city.

Will Montreal voters pass the torch?

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante isn’t running for re-election, and polls suggest her party’s newest leader Luc Rabouin isn’t as popular as Soraya Martinez of Ensemble Montréal, the majority party from 2013 to 2017 under Denis Coderre.

Martinez is currently leading by nine points in the polls against Rabouin of Projet Montréal, according to two Léger polls conducted in September. Another conducted this month, by Segma Research, places her eight points ahead of him.

But nearly half of voters remain undecided according to the two Léger polls (42 and 48 per cent), with the Segma poll measuring that at just over a third of voters.

Political apathy

There are currently nine municipalities in Quebec where no one has run for mayor. According to province, 40 seats on city councils also went unclaimed.

That’s significant, but still fewer than what was seen in the 2021 election, when 120 seats went unfilled.

Mayors in those municipalities will remain in power on an interim basis until a new election can be called.

More than 4,500 municipal candidates, including 564 mayors, have already been elected via acclamation in the province. That represents just over half of the candidates.

Political apathy was even more pronounced in the 2021 election, however, when nearly 63 per cent of all candidates ran unopposed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2025.

Miriam Lafontaine, The Canadian Press