The Outaouais asks Quebec to close the gap in this election

Tashi Farmilo

Quebec's 39-day election campaign opened on August 27, and in the Outaouais it began already narrowed to a single preoccupation: whether the next government will close a long-standing gap in health funding. Five parties are fielding 24 candidates across the area's five ridings for the October 5 vote, and from the outset the contest here has been shaped by care that is difficult to reach and by a workforce drawn steadily across the river to better-paid jobs in Ontario.

The map favours the incumbents, for now. The Coalition Avenir Québec holds four of the five local seats, a base assembled in 2018 and enlarged in 2022, while the Quebec Liberals, long the dominant force here, are reduced to Pontiac. Two ridings, Gatineau and Papineau, are open, their sitting members not seeking re-election: Robert Bussière in Gatineau and Mathieu Lacombe in Papineau, the latter the outgoing minister responsible for the Outaouais. Three incumbents remain on the ballot, the Liberal André Fortin in Pontiac and the Coalition's Suzanne Tremblay in Hull and Mathieu Lévesque in Chapleau. The opening numbers pointed in two directions at once. The early picture cut two ways. Days into the campaign, Qc125, the poll aggregator maintained by Philippe J. Fournier, still projected the Parti Québécois to win the most seats, yet put its chance of a majority at only about one in ten, with the Coalition Avenir Québec rising, the Liberals sliding toward the seat total of their 2018 defeat and a PQ plurality the likeliest result. The local picture ran the other way: early campaign reporting had the Liberals ahead across Gatineau and the Pontiac, a reversal of the provincewide order that hints at how differently this corner of Quebec reads the national mood.

No file weighs more here than health. Gatineau's mayor, Maude Marquis-Bissonnette, has cast the campaign as a contest about care above all else, citing waits that stretch too long, specialists and family doctors who are hard to secure, and front-line services that thin out, all of it aggravated by pay and conditions that draw staff to Ontario hospitals. The Conférence des préfets de l'Outaouais, which gathers the mayor with the wardens Marc Carrière, Paul-André David and Pontiac's Jane Toller, is asking every party to pledge a three-year plan to bring health funding to parity. Over all of it hangs the long-promised university hospital in Gatineau, for which the province has already purchased the Centre Asticou site.

Fortin, defending Pontiac, is running on a Liberal promise to close the pay gap between Outaouais health workers and their better-paid counterparts across the river. Action Santé Outaouais called that a good start, but warned that pay alone will not fix the shortage of buildings, specialized equipment and trained nurses and family doctors. Québec solidaire has built its local pitch around transit and the future hospital, with the proposed Gatineau tramway front and centre. The Coalition is campaigning on the cost of living and on staying the course after eight years in power. Mefleh has focused on household budgets and support for small business, forestry and tourism. Robertson, a Gatineau native, leans on language, culture and identity. Gauthier, running for the open Papineau seat, promises investment in families, farming, infrastructure and public services. Outside the city, rural leaders add forestry and worn-out roads to the list, and press for stronger front-line care.

Voters are weighing more than hospitals. Education, immigration, public transit and access to daycare have surfaced alongside health care in early local coverage of the race. The cross-river economy is in play as well, with Gatineau and Ottawa making common cause against U.S. tariffs. Language and identity carry a particular charge in a part of Quebec that presses against the Ontario border and leans federalist: the municipality of Low has objected to the absence of an English-language leaders' debate, a pointed concern in heavily anglophone Pontiac, and while the University of Ottawa political scientist Geneviève Tellier detects real appetite for the Parti Québécois and its leader, she doubts it reaches as far as another sovereignty referendum, the party's defining promise.

The five parties will answer for these priorities together at the Outaouais debate on September 9 at 7 pm, in the main hall of the Université du Québec en Outaouais at 283 boulevard Alexandre-Taché, an evening convened by Culture Outaouais, Le Droit, the university and the Observatoire du développement de l'Outaouais around six themes bound up with underfunding: education, the cost of living, culture, infrastructure, health and sovereignty.  Polls open October 5.

Candidates in the running:

Pontiac

André Fortin, PLQ, incumbent

The MNA for Pontiac since 2014 and a former transport minister, Fortin has served as the Liberals' parliamentary leader of the Official Opposition while the party rebuilds. He is campaigning on a Liberal pledge to legislate pay parity between Outaouais health workers and their better-paid counterparts across the river in Ontario.

Mariana Mefleh, CAQ

A political science graduate of the University of Ottawa, Mefleh spent years as a political staffer, including as an adviser to the Hull MNA, before seeking office herself. She is running on household purchasing power and support for small business, forestry and tourism.

Marcela Cazas, PQ

Bolivian-born and settled in the Outaouais for four decades, Cazas is a retired nurse and nursing adviser who also worked in immigration at Canadian embassies in Haiti and Peru. She casts herself as a credible voice for explaining Quebec independence to people from diverse communities, in a riding the PQ has never won.

Bianca Baldo, Québec solidaire

A lawyer and community organizer with more than 20 years advocating for marginalized people, Baldo has led the Aylmer Village Residents' Association since 2018. She is campaigning on social justice, along with heritage, environment and access to municipal services.

The Conservatives had not confirmed a candidate here as the campaign opened.

Gatineau

William Robertson, CAQ

Born and raised in Gatineau, Robertson spent roughly a decade in politics, including a stint in the premier's office, before running in his home riding. He is campaigning on language, culture and identity, and on continuity with the Fréchette government.

David Logue, PLQ

An entrepreneur rooted in the local economy, Logue won a contested Liberal nomination to carry the party's banner in Gatineau. He runs as part of a Liberal slate whose flagship regional promise is closing the health pay gap with Ontario.

Raphaël Déry, PQ

Déry carried the Parti Québécois banner in Gatineau in 2022 and is standing again in 2026. He frames his candidacy as carrying the Outaouais's voice to the National Assembly under the party's sovereignty project.

Emmanuelle Tremblay, Québec solidaire

A recent retiree, Tremblay devoted her career to advancing the rights of vulnerable people on the international stage. She is campaigning on Québec solidaire's local priorities, chiefly public transit, including the proposed Gatineau tramway, and the future hospital.

Bertin Aboussou, PCQ

An information-technology professional in the federal public service, Aboussou brings experience in systems administration and project management. He is running on road safety, cellular and digital coverage, regional economic development, housing and support for seniors.

Hull

Suzanne Tremblay, CAQ, incumbent

A former teacher and past president of the Outaouais teachers' union, Tremblay won Hull for the CAQ in 2022, unseating a long-serving Liberal and later serving as parliamentary assistant on education. Seeking a second term, she is running on her record while acknowledging that the government's doctor-pay reform had consequences for the area.

Sacha Cannon, PLQ

A lawyer and longtime Liberal activist, Cannon comes from a prominent local political family as the son of former federal minister Lawrence Cannon. He carries the Liberal platform, headlined regionally by the health-worker pay-parity pledge.

Paul Fauteux, PQ

A member of the Quebec Bar and an international-law specialist, Fauteux spent 30 years in the federal public service, led Canada's climate-negotiation delegation in the early 2000s and is a descendant of former premier Honoré Mercier. A longtime sovereigntist, he is running on the PQ's independence project.

Mariève Forest, Québec solidaire

A sociologist with a doctorate, social entrepreneur and trainer originally from the Outaouais, Forest has worked with community organizations on democratic participation and inclusion. She is campaigning to bring local residents' concerns to the Assembly and to build what she calls a more just and humane Quebec.

Anne-Marie Couturier, PCQ

Couturier is a longtime federal public servant standing for the Conservatives in Hull. She runs on the party's platform of a smaller state, lower taxes and faster access to care.

Chapleau

Mathieu Lévesque, CAQ, incumbent

Lévesque took Chapleau from a long-serving Liberal in 2018, held it in 2022, and served as parliamentary assistant to the justice minister. Seeking a third term, he is running on the government's record, with health care, education and Highway 50 safety long among his stated concerns.

Michel Langevin, PLQ

A former radio host well known locally, Langevin is the Liberals' choice to try to win back Chapleau. He carries the party platform, including its regional push on health-worker pay parity.

Meixia Maltais, PQ

An employee of Hydro-Québec since 2015, Maltais was the first to seek the PQ nomination in Chapleau. She is campaigning on health underfunding, education and the fiscal imbalance, and argues Quebec independence could improve the province's position.

Doryan Pansanel, Québec solidaire

A political science student at the University of Ottawa and a content creator, Pansanel founded a youth theatre company. He is running on the ecological transition and collective well-being, and on making politics accessible and grounded in daily realities.

Denis Charron, PCQ

The former mayor of Aumond, Charron brings municipal experience to the Conservative campaign in Chapleau. He runs on the party's platform of lower taxes, a smaller state and quicker access to health services.

Papineau

Linda Gauthier, CAQ

Gauthier steps in for the retiring Mathieu Lacombe, the former minister responsible for the Outaouais. She is campaigning on investment in families, agriculture, infrastructure and public services, and on the CAQ's vision of a strong, prosperous Quebec.

Isabelle Sabourin, PLQ

A social sciences graduate of the Université du Québec en Outaouais with graduate training in regional development, Sabourin has spent more than 20 years in strategic roles across the municipal, provincial and federal levels, including as a territorial director for the City of Gatineau. She is campaigning on regional development, rural priorities and the economic and social growth of the Outaouais.

Isabelle Millette, PQ

A strategic adviser in business development and a longtime local entrepreneur, Millette wants to put that experience to work for the area. She frames her candidacy as serving residents with sincerity under the PQ's collective project.

Benoît Renaud, Québec solidaire

A teacher, educational consultant and founding member of Québec solidaire, Renaud sat on the party's national leadership from 2008 to 2012, has run for the party before in Hull, and is a regular political commentator for left-wing publications.

Michel Kadri, PCQ

A businessman standing for the Conservatives in Papineau, Kadri reflects leader Éric Duhaime's bid to make gains in the Outaouais as an alternative for voters tired of the Liberals. He runs on the party's platform of affordability, home ownership and faster care.