Quebec Votes 2026: Here's who's running in the 5 Outaouais ridings

Quebec Votes 2026: Here's who's running in your Outaouais riding

2 races in the region feature no incumbents

West Quebecers will elect at least two new representatives to the National Assembly on Oct. 5.

Coalition Avenir Québec held four of the region's five seats at the dissolution of Quebec's legislature last month. Two of the incumbent CAQ candidates, including a cabinet minister, have decided not to run again.

The Outaouais has traditionally felt ignored by Quebec City on issues of health, social services and major infrastructure investments.

Data from l'University du Quebec en Outaouais (UQO)'s Observatoire du developpement de l'Outaouais shows the region lagging in investment in higher education, health and culture compared to similar regions in the province.

Thomas Collombat, a political science professor at UQO, said while those concerns will persist in this campaign, the dynamic of five competitive provincial parties will be interesting to watch.

The region was long considered a Liberal fortress before the CAQ arrived on the scene and offered an alternative for federalist voters who didn't want to vote for the sovereigntist Parti Québécois.

"It's going to be interesting to see to what extent the CAQ manages to save some seats in the region, to what extent the Liberals are competitive again in the area and then, of course, at the other three parties," Collombat said.

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In the first week of the campaign, CAQ Leader Christine Fréchette explicitly made an appeal to "disappointed Liberals" to consider her party, though Collombat said such an overture might not resonate in the same way for an incumbent party.

"It's easier for the Liberals to play the card of renewal," he said.

At the same time, the CAQ has benefited from projecting stability in the midst of the U.S.-Canada trade war, he said.

Collombat said the Parti Québécois promise to lay off most federal workers in the event of a successful referendum has likely not helped their chances in a region where so many of those workers live.

Québec Solidaire, a progressive party that is also avowedly pro-independence, did have some success in 2022 when it was polling higher provincially, Collombat said.

The Conservative Party of Quebec has made an appeal to anglophones who may be disaffected with the Liberals, but Collombat said most of that party's support is concentrated in the Quebec City area.

Work is starting on a new university-affiliated hospital in Gatineau, though locating it at the Asticou Centre was the subject of some controversy. There have been ongoing issues with the training and retention of medical professionals, especially so close to the Ontario border.

Work to improve safety on Highway 50 between Gatineau and the Montreal area hasn't been completed. A promise to improve rural cellphone service has also not met its deadline.

There has also been turbulence in the development of Gatineau's tramway project, which was recently taken over by a provincial transit development agency.

Housing and homelessness has also been a major issue.

Parts of the region are also home to a higher proportion of English speakers than the provincial average and tensions related to the updated French-language charter gained attention early in the campaign.

Western Quebec officials concerned French-only election mailouts will affect turnout

Collombat said the language issues can be particularly sensitive in the region because of its proximity to Ontario and the linguistic insecurity experienced by francophones in the region.

Some electoral boundaries have changed slightly because of a recent review.

Here are local candidates that have been announced by the major parties or officially registered with Élections Québec. This page will be updated to reflect nominations until the filing deadline of Sept. 17.

Mathieu Lévesque is running for a third term representing Chapleau under the CAQ banner. He was appointed minister responsible for the regions when Fréchette named her first cabinet.

Chapleau encompasses most of the pre-amalgamation city of Gatineau with Highway 50 tracing its northern border and the border with Ontario on the Ottawa River as its southern limit.

Its western edge is on the Gatineau River, and the Blanche River and boulevard Lorraine demarcate major parts of its eastern edge.

Robert Bussières, a former mayor of La Pêche, won the riding for the CAQ in 2018, defeating the Liberals who'd held it since 1962. He won again in 2022 but isn't running this time around.

The riding of Gatineau takes its name from the Gatineau River and only includes small portions of the northern edge of the city itself, primarily encompassing communities to the north.

The riding is largely rural though some of its growing communities have effectively become suburbs of the National Capital Region. It includes the municipalities of Chelsea, Cantley, Val-des-Monts, La Pêche, Low and Gracefield.

The Algonquin communities of Kitigan Zibi and Lac-Rapide are also within its boundaries.

Incumbent Suzanne Tremblay of the CAQ is running again. The former teacher's union president's victory in 2022 marked the first time the Liberal party had lost the riding since 1976.

The riding of Hull covers part of the city of Gatineau. It covers a mix of urban and suburban neighbourhoods such as Vieux-Hull, the Plateau and Mont-Bleu.

It's also the home of national cultural institutions and major federal office complexes.

Mathieu Lacombe, Quebec's culture minister and former minister responsible for the Outaouais, is not running for re-election after first winning Papineau in 2018.

The riding is the eastern-most riding of the Outaouais and includes the eastern part of Gatineau, along with communities like Saint-André-Avellin, Montebello, Thurso, Ripon, Val-des-Bois, Duhamel, Saint-Emile-de-Suffolk and Boileau.

Liberal André Fortin has represented Pontiac since 2014 and was the lone representative from his party in the region after the CAQ won a majority in 2022.

Pontiac includes the western Gatineau community of Aylmer and municipalities to the northwest along the Ottawa River such as Pontiac, Shawville, Mansfield-et-Pontefract and Fort-Coulonge.

Matthew Kupfer has been a reporter and producer at CBC News since 2012. He can be reached at matthew.kupfer@cbc.ca and on Twitter @matthewkupfer