CAQ minister apologizes, is booted from caucus after attending PQ election party

Quebec’s former culture minister is apologizing for attending a Parti Québécois election night gathering as his own party suffered a crushing defeat.

The Coalition Avenir Québec expelled Mathieu Lacombe from the party after La Presse reported Thursday that he’d attended the PQ gathering in Montreal.

Outgoing Premier Christine Fréchette also removed Lacombe from her cabinet.

While the PQ won Monday’s election, Fréchette and her ministers will remain in office until PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the premier-designate, appoints his new cabinet.

Fréchette’s office says someone will be named to succeed to Lacombe until the new PQ government is sworn in.

The PQ will form a minority government after winning 59 seats in Monday’s election, while the Coalition Avenir Québec failed to win any seats.

Lacombe, who announced last June that he would not seek to be re-elected, wrote on social media that he had attended the rival party’s gathering “to celebrate the victory of people I respect and with whom I have forged bonds over the years.”

He acknowledged he shouldn’t have been there given his role as a minister.

“I would like to offer my sincere apologies to all the party supporters, my colleagues, and my friends whom this decision may have hurt or disappointed,” he wrote.

Lacombe raised eyebrows this spring when he expressed pro-sovereignty views, despite his party’s opposition to a referendum.

“I think that right now, the majority of Quebecers don’t want a referendum, so we’d be on the side of those who don’t want one,” he said. “But if, by any chance, there were to be one, I think it’s clear that I’d be on the ‘Yes’ side, as would some of my colleagues.”

The Parti Québécois has promised to hold a referendum by 2030, but not until U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2026.

Vicky Fragasso-Marquis, The Canadian Press