Vincent Marissal quits Québec Solidaire after caucus votes unanimously to suspend him

MONTREAL — Opposition MNA Vincent Marissal has quit Québec Solidaire following a unanimous vote by its caucus to suspend him.

The vote was called Saturday morning after the party got word he had been in discussions with Parti Québécois Leader Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon about running as a candidate with the PQ in the 2026 election

“I have great, great respect for my ex-colleagues, most of them, but the fact is that I don’t feel that I can work any longer with Québec Solidaire,” he said Saturday morning in Montreal from his constituency office in Rosemount.

Marissal broke the news to the public just moments after the party had issued a statement confirming his suspension.

Speaking to journalists, Marissal confirmed he had been speaking with the PQ leader, but didn’t go into detail about the discussions, saying only they were “casual.”

He said his former party’s pro-union rhetoric during Montreal’s transit strike earlier this month was a factor in his decision to leave.

“I think we were on the wrong side of history. People were suffering in Montreal. They were sending us angry emails because they felt we had abandoned them, and I believe that we did abandon them,” Marissal said.

For over a week this month a strike by the network’s maintenance workers led to buses and metros only being available during rush hours and late evenings, with exceptions only for paratransit users. On Nov. 1, a strike by its bus drivers and metro operators also prompted a complete shutdown of regular bus and metro service.

Marissal said he no longer agrees with many of the positions the party holds. He said he doesn’t want to see either the Liberals or the Coalition Avenir Quebec in power, adding, “I’m not with Québec Solidaire anymore, so do the math.”

Speaking to journalists Saturday, Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal said she felt a deep sense of betrayal when she found out Friday that Marissal was considering running with the PQ. She likened it to being cheated on by a spouse.

“Vincent Marissal hid the truth from us,” she said from Montreal. “A line has been crossed. It’s totally unacceptable and a complete breach of trust.”

She said if it weren’t for Québec Solidaire, no one else at the National Assembly would be there to defend the rights of workers.

“We’re the only ones doing it,” Ghazal said.

She said her party supports those that rely on public transit just as much as it supports the unions fighting to defend transit workers in Montreal, which is why its been such a vocal opponent against the province’s underfunding of the transit network.

Sol Zanetti, also a party co-spokesperson, said he understands that Marissal had every right to leave party. The issue, he said, is how he chose to go about it.

“It’s OK in life to change your mind politically,” he said alongside Ghazal. “There’s a way of doing that respectfully and ethically, but that’s not the way Vincent Marissal chose to do it.”

Saint-Pierre Plamondon acknowledged Marissal’s departure from the party with a post on X, writing he agrees he made the right decision by deciding to go independent.

“The question of transferring between parties is always very sensitive one,” he wrote, adding he didn’t have anything more to add about Marissal’s political future.

Marissal was elected in the 2018 election, when he defeated then-leader of the Parti Québécois Jean-François Lisée.

He was re-elected four years later, winning by a majority of more than 5,000 votes over Coalition Avenir Quebec candidate Sandra O’Connor.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2025.

With files from Audrey Sanikopoulos.

The Canadian Press