Good morning. Just as the polls prophesied, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s Parti Québécois reigned supreme in the Quebec election. More on that below, along with plans to make the Defence Investment Agency a Crown corporation and a historic rink’s uncertain future.
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Supporters of Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon watch the election results in Montreal on Monday.ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP/Getty Images
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Parti Québécois projected to form minority government in Quebec
Quebec has elected the separatist Parti Québécois to a minority government, setting the stage for years of uncertainty about the party’s promised independence referendum, which will now require support from elsewhere in the province’s fragmented political landscape.
The result: After a five-way race that revealed a divided province and a splintered federalist vote, incoming premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon led his party to 59 seats in Monday’s provincial election, according to projections. St-Pierre Plamondon’s party needed to secure 64 seats to claim a majority in the National Assembly and will fall just short, with a number of races still too close to call as of late evening.
The runners-up: Monday’s election marked a dramatic end to the reign of the Coalition Avenir Québec. Under new Leader Christine Fréchette, the party was unable to counter an overwhelming appetite for change. The Quebec Liberal Party under new Leader Charles Milliard struggled to distinguish itself from other parties opposing a referendum, despite a strong end to the campaign. The provincial Conservative Party, unrelated to its federal namesake, is projected to win seats in the National Assembly for the first time. Québec solidaire, a left-wing separatist party that focuses more on social justice than independence, was projected on election night to finish fourth.
What’s next: The PQ Leader could make relations with the federal government far more contentious. He is vowing to eliminate the role of lieutenant-governor in Quebec and fight any increases in immigration at a time when Prime Minister Mark Carney is seeking interprovincial peace in the face of U.S. economic aggression.
On the ground: Our reporters offer five takeaways from the election.
Opinion: The PQ is back, and the rest of Canada will need to brace for that, Konrad Yakabuski writes.
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Accompanied by Defence Investment Agency CEO Doug Guzman, left, Prime Minister Mark Carney takes questions at a defence industry event in May.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
DIA to become Crown corporation
Canada plans to turn the Defence Investment Agency, its new office for speeding up the purchase of military gear, into a Crown corporation, sources say. The transformation is meant to arm the organization and chief executive Doug Guzman with more decision-making authority.
The agency: The Carney government created the DIA to streamline the procurement of military purchases worth at least $100-million. Ottawa has committed to ramp up defence spending in an effort to bolster self-reliance and meet rising targets agreed to by NATO members.
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NATO summit attendees walk past the organization’s logo in Ankara, Turkey, this summer.Hussein Malla/The Associated Press
Agencies will investigate alleged NATO spy
Canadian security agencies are going to probe the activities in Canada of Biwei Zhang, the 33-year-old NATO intern arrested by Belgian authorities in July on espionage charges, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said.
The background: Zhang, who also uses Claire as her first name, was granted clearance to intern with NATO by Global Affairs Canada, after checks by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP. Every government department has been asked to review their screening processes, Anandasangaree told the House of Commons Public Safety Committee.
The Take
Catholic institutions argue that their communities have a right to religious beliefs and conscientious objection to practices that offend their values. But institutions don’t have a conscience, and they don’t have rights. Individuals do. You can’t coerce religious observance on patients by denying them routine procedures.
— André Picard, health columnist
It’s well past time for Catholic hospitals to be secularized, André Picard writes.
The Shot
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A mid-18th-century map of the Great Lakes, with Lake Ontario at right, as seen in the French cartographer Gilles Robert de Vaugondy’s Atlas universel.Library of Congress
Donald Trump’s command to rename Lake Ontario created a dilemma for Canadian and global map-makers. Should they ignore the U.S. President, or should they split the difference by calling it Lake America south of the border? Marie Woolf wades into the debate.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: Halifax-based Emera Inc. is bidding to build a national champion in the utility sector by merging with Calgary natural gas and electricity infrastructure owner Canadian Utilities Ltd. and parent ATCO Ltd. in a $35-billion union.
Abroad: The U.S. Coast Guard identified all six aboard an Ontario-based air ambulance lost off the Massachusetts coast.
Trial: Bestselling author Steven Galloway’s career was abruptly destroyed, his finances ruined and his mental health damaged after he was accused of sexual assault, B.C. Supreme Court heard Monday during the first day of a defamation trial against four people.
Ringette: Our Local Matters series visits North Bay, Ont., where the arena that helped popularize the women’s ice sport faces possible demolition.
Hockey: NHL career goals leader Alex Ovechkin, the 41-year-old captain of the Washington Capitals, confirmed he’ll retire at the end of the season.
Markets: Tim Shufelt explains why it’s a historically bad moment – indeed, the worst this century – to be a stock picker.
Science: Kicking off a week of Nobel Prize reveals, an American and two German scientists were honoured in the medicine category yesterday for discoveries leading to the development of optogenetics. And today, Francis Halzen, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who pioneered the detection of ghostly particles from outer space, won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Fiction: These five novelists were shortlisted for the 2026 Giller Prize, which will be presented in Toronto next month.