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Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette has called a special cabinet meeting on Monday, and postponed her election campaign a day before Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on US goods take effect.
Fréchette’s office on Sunday confirmed that the cabinet meeting would be held virtually at 6 p.m., but the agenda for the cabinet meeting was not disclosed in advance. Such meetings were relatively rare during the election campaign, when Fréchette was simultaneously serving as prime minister and campaigning as leader of the CAQ.
The meeting came as Canada prepared to impose retaliatory tariffs on a large number of US goods the following day. The tariffs, which range from 15 to 50 percent, will apply to products including milk, steel, copper and some beauty products.
This was in response to US President Donald Trump’s 50 percent tariffs on $28 billion worth of Canadian goods, ranging from hockey sticks to honey.
Rhetoric regarding tariff threats continued throughout the long weekend, with Trump posting on social media on Sunday that the Canadian dollar exchange rate with the US had been “unacceptable… for years – but not anymore.”
Trump did not elaborate on his concerns, although a weakening Canadian dollar makes Canadian exports cheaper in the US and American goods more expensive for Canadians.
Some of Fréchette’s political opponents on Sunday accused him of using the tariff dispute for political gain during the provincial election campaign.
Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard accused Fréchette of playing “games” by gathering his ministers the night before the tariffs went into effect.
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“We’ll have press conferences, flags, long faces, people lined up around tables telling us that they are there for Quebecers and that they will do whatever they can to save Quebec,” Milliard said at a campaign rally in Gatineau.
He argues the CAQ government has failed to prepare Quebec’s business world for a tariff war.
“This administration has been there for eight years, not eight weeks,” Milliard said. “So to be told now that we’re going to be there for Quebecers, we’re going to be there for workers, we’re going to hand out these checks and tax credits, I think that’s very surprising.”
Quebec Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime also criticized the decision to form a cabinet, commenting during a campaign stop in Pont-Rouge, about 40 kilometers west of Quebec City.
“We all understand that this is a CAQ marketing operation that is trying to exploit the tariff crisis to hide its record,” Duhaime said.
Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said in a written statement that “fear is not an economic strategy.”
He accused Fréchette of using “bogeyman Trump” in recent days in the hope that voters would ignore the CAQ record and other parties’ proposals.
Speaking later in Montmagny, about 80 kilometers east of Quebec City, St-Pierre Plamondon said the strategy should not be “an excuse for not campaigning and a lack of transparency with Quebecers.”
He also called on Premier Mark Carney to directly notify all party leaders in Quebec of developments in the event of further U.S. retaliation.
Québec Solidaire spokesperson Ruba Ghazal acknowledged that Fréchette remains prime minister and is holding meetings in that capacity.
“What I asked him was: what is he proposing in terms of tariffs for workers?” Ghazal said after the campaign announcement outside the legislature in Quebec City.
The cabinet meeting comes as Ottawa also braces for the latest escalation in the trade dispute.
On Friday, the federal government briefed the Canada-U.S. economic relations advisory committee on the upcoming tariffs and support plans for workers and businesses.
The meeting included briefings from Canada’s chief US trade negotiator, Janice Charette, as well as ministers responsible for US finance, industrial policy and trade.
“The discussions also highlight the importance of Team Canada’s integrated approach, with government, industry, labor and other partners working together to ensure Canada’s response reflects national priorities and drives long-term economic growth,” a Sept. 4 news release said.
Fréchette is not the first political leader to temporarily withdraw from an election campaign due to a tariff dispute.
During the 2025 federal election, Prime Minister Mark Carney paused his campaign three times to resume his official duties as the federal government prepared its response to the trade war with the United States.
— With files from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa and Thomas Laberge in Gatineau
© 2026 Canadian Press
