Éric Duhaime Bets Quebec Conservatives Can Make History in Fall Election
GATINEAU, QUE. — Quebec Conservative Party leader Éric Duhaime is staking his political legacy on October’s provincial election, hoping to secure at least 12 seats in the National Assembly — the threshold required for official party recognition in the legislature.
“It’s going to be a historic moment on October 5,” Duhaime, 57, told the National Post. “We’re on the verge of making history, in a certain way.”
A Party Rebuilt From Near-Irrelevance
The Quebec Conservatives have not held government at the National Assembly in nearly a century. Before the 1935 election, the provincial Conservative Party merged with L’Action Libérale Nationale to form the Union Nationale, which dominated Quebec politics for decades.
The party was reconstituted in 2009 but remained a marginal force until Duhaime — a well-known media personality — took the helm in 2021. Since then, the party has grown from a fringe movement into a credible electoral contender.
The party’s only current seat in the legislature came this spring, when former CAQ minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina crossed the floor after months of discussions with Duhaime — giving the Conservatives their first foothold in the National Assembly.
Polling Points to Quebec City Region as Key Battleground
At the time of the interview, polling aggregator Quebec125 projected the Conservatives would win most of their targeted 12 seats in the Greater Quebec City area and the Chaudière-Appalaches region — traditional strongholds of right-leaning provincial politics.
Duhaime believes the next government could be a minority, potentially giving his caucus the balance of power in the legislature — an outcome that would punch well above the party’s weight.
“It’s not insignificant for a party like ours, who almost didn’t exist five years ago,” he said.
Building for the Long Term
Duhaime frames the October vote as one step in a longer project. “For me, it’s not the next election that is the most important. It’s the next generation,” he said. “We’re building foundations for a strong, small-c conservative, a real right-wing alternative in Quebec.”
He acknowledged the difficulty of building a party from scratch. “It’s one thing to have a beer with your friends in your basement and say, ‘We’re going to start a party.’ It’s something else to build it for real,” he said. “It’s thousands and thousands of hours by thousands of people.”
A Career Shaped by Media, Politics and Personal Disclosure
Before entering electoral politics, Duhaime worked as a political strategist, media commentator, author and radio host. His provocative commentary attracted a wide audience and caught the attention of Québecor CEO Pierre-Karl Péladeau, who recruited him as a columnist.
Duhaime made his strongest mark as a radio host between 2012 and 2020. During that period, he also published several books, including a 2017 work in which he came out as gay and offered a pointed critique of what he described as a culture of homosexual victimhood.
Earlier in his career, in 2009, Duhaime travelled to Morocco, Mauritania and Iraq as a consultant for the National Democratic Institute, an American non-profit focused on democracy promotion. He has said he returned from Iraq suffering from PTSD, an experience that reshaped his personal and professional trajectory before he eventually found his footing in Quebec media.
