SHERBROOKE — With Quebecers hours away from the polls, Liberal leader Charles Milliard framed Monday’s vote as a binary choice between federalist stability and the uncertainty of a sovereignty referendum, urging strategic support to block the Parti Québécois from power.
The final-day offensive in Sherbrooke crystallised a campaign that has seen Milliard, a political novice until his February leadership victory, attempt to reposition the Liberals as the sole bulwark against a PQ government that has pledged to hold a referendum on independence — albeit not until after Donald Trump departs the White House in 2029.
A late conversion on the campaign trail
Milliard acknowledged on Sunday that his only substantive regret was failing to put his own face on the Liberal campaign bus during the opening week. The oversight became a symbol of a party unsure how to package a leader who had never held elected office and was largely unknown outside business circles.
“People recognised the Charles Milliard that my friends and my colleagues know in the weeks that followed,” he told supporters in St-Victor, where the bus — now adorned with his image — was parked.
The pivot appears to have resonated. At a rally in this Eastern Townships stronghold, Université de Sherbrooke lecturer François Lafortune described the leader as a “wonderful discovery” with a “Zen side” — a new kind of politician for a province fatigued by performative partisanship.
The referendum card
The centrepiece of Milliard’s closing argument is the PQ’s signature promise. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has been unequivocal: a PQ government would hold a sovereignty referendum, timed for after the next US presidential transition. The Liberal leader has seized on the timeline, arguing that the mere prospect of another constitutional crisis — the third in a generation — injects instability into healthcare planning, education funding and economic investment.
“We’re going for the win on Monday. I’m convinced that this campaign isn’t over yet,” Milliard told the Sherbrooke crowd. “There’s one party that Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon won’t be calling up: the Quebec Liberal party, because we are proudly federalist, and we’re not ashamed to say it.”
His pitch extends beyond the PQ. Milliard warned that Québec solidaire, the Coalition Avenir Québec and the Conservative Party of Quebec could all face pressure to support a sovereignty motion in a minority parliament — a claim the CAQ and Conservatives have rejected, though the Liberals argue their opposition to a referendum does not preclude legislative cooperation on constitutional matters.
Voters switching allegiances
The strategy appears to be cutting through with at least some former sovereigntists. Sonia Jubinville, an educational therapist from the Orford riding, voted Yes in the 1995 referendum. She now backs the Liberals.
“Historically, the Parti Québécois did align with my values, but I find they’ve radicalised in the last few years and don’t accept other people,” she said. “I can’t recognise myself in that anymore.”
Jubinville’s trajectory mirrors a broader shift in the Eastern Townships, where federalist sentiment has hardened among older voters who once saw the PQ as the natural vessel for Quebec nationalism. The Liberals are betting that this demographic, combined with non-francophone voters and disaffected CAQ supporters, can deliver seat gains in a region that has trended away from them in recent cycles.
The leadership question
Milliard’s lack of parliamentary experience remains the Liberals’ sharpest vulnerability. Critics argue that a premier who has never sat in the National Assembly would face a steep learning curve managing minority dynamics, federal-provincial negotiations and a healthcare system in crisis. The party’s platform leans heavily on administrative competence — streamlining bureaucracy, expanding family medicine groups, reducing surgical wait times — but offers few specifics on revenue generation beyond efficiency savings.
Supporters counter that Milliard’s background in healthcare administration and his tenure at the helm of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec equip him with precisely the management credentials the province needs. His calm demeanour, they say, contrasts favourably with the theatricality that has come to dominate Question Period.
Why it Matters
Monday’s ballot will test whether Quebec’s federalist vote can coalesce behind a single vehicle after years of fragmentation, or whether the PQ’s patient referendum timeline — calibrated to avoid immediate economic shock — proves persuasive to a province that has consistently rejected sovereignty at the polls but remains attached to the principle of self-determination. The outcome will shape not only Quebec’s constitutional trajectory but the federal government’s calculus on healthcare transfers, immigration powers and climate policy coordination for the next mandate.
