Étienne-Alexandre Beauregard: Éric Duhaime's conservative doctrine for Quebec
The Conservative Party of Quebec's leader wants to protect the province's autonomy, and build alliances with the right in the rest of Canada.
Since taking the helm of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Éric Duhaime has transformed this once-marginal party into a key player in Quebec politics, with a solid base of over 10 percent of the vote. He embodies a voice that is, above all, economically liberal, critical of social democracy, and historically less associated with cultural conservatism. His book Destination Autonomy, released this month, marks a significant shift designed to broaden his appeal by including centre-right nationalists concerned about the future of the Quebec nation.
Duhaime’s highly detailed essay, which sometimes resembles an academic paper, aims to describe the PCQ’s autonomist strategy and clearly position it within the nationalist camp. While it aligns with the “third way” that rejects both independence and centralising federalism, it nevertheless distinguishes itself from the ADQ and the CAQ by clearly banking on alliances with the Canadian right to make Quebec more autonomous.
Federal intervention is a threat to Quebec
Duhaime’s diagnosis is unequivocal: the federal government is encroaching on provincial jurisdictions without being able to fulfill its own responsibilities, doing so in a systematic and persistent manner. Because it collects more revenue than it needs to fulfill its mission, it implements unwanted initiatives in education, health, culture, and many other areas where it has no legitimacy, in order to score political points or to simulate a kind of homogeneity that does not exist from coast to coast. These encroachments create confusion that undermines provincial autonomy, particularly in Quebec, whose choices often differ from those of the rest of Canada.
The drawbacks of fiscal imbalance and federal spending power have long been known. Duhaime’s conservative perspective, however, allows him to state truths that the left-leaning Bloc Québécois rarely dares to articulate clearly: it is because Ottawa acts like a social-democratic government, even though that has never been its role, that conflicts with the provinces multiply. Left-wing nationalists have historically been reluctant to acknowledge this fact, which is nonetheless central to understanding the tensions between Quebec and Ottawa.
Can the conservative movement defend Quebec?
Éric Duhaime also breaks with nationalist orthodoxy by choosing to frame autonomy not as a confrontation between Quebec and the rest of the country, but as a shared struggle among all provinces against Ottawa. The first part of the book is dedicated precisely to tracing the major autonomy movements that have taken place across all Canadian provinces, in order to clearly demonstrate that Quebec is not alone in its tensions with the central government, and that it has more allies than it realises. Readers will undoubtedly learn a great deal, particularly regarding the autonomy movements in the Atlantic provinces or British Columbia, which are far less well known than those in the Prairies or Quebec.
One could summarise the strategy proposed by the PCQ leader as follows: rather than fighting alone, Quebec should join forces with its natural allies in other provinces, particularly the conservative movements that oppose Ottawa’s intervention. He thus expresses great admiration for the initiatives put forward by Alberta under Danielle Smith and promises a “sovereignty act” of his own to ensure that the Quebec government resists federal encroachment on its areas of jurisdiction. As a supporter of the federal Conservative Party, Duhaime explicitly aligns himself with the movement at the national level and sees it as a lever to amplify Quebec’s desire for autonomy. While François Legault had implicitly defended this strategy by backing Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives in 2021, Éric Duhaime has now made it a doctrine.
Building a more autonomous Quebec, unilaterally
The Conservative leader also builds on the CAQ approach by embracing a “unilateralist” autonomy, based on immediate provincial actions to pressure Ottawa, rather than favouring negotiations dependent on the federal government’s good faith, which is not always present. He thus proposes a law stipulating that the notwithstanding clause applies to all Quebec laws, as René Lévesque did in the past, to signify that Quebec does not have to comply with a constitution it never signed. The essay also mentions a Quebec constitution, a charter for provincial autonomy, and more bilateral agreements with the federal government as means of achieving results without resorting to a referendum or negotiations involving all ten provinces.
This marks a genuine shift for the Quebec Conservative Party, which until now seemed less interested in nationalism. No doubt aware that the Quebec right is as much cultural as it is economic, and seeking to capitalise on the vacuum left by François Legault’s departure, Éric Duhaime fully embraces a right-wing stance on the economy while acknowledging the state’s role in preserving the distinct identity of the Quebec nation. By openly criticising federal interventionism and promoting alliances with the conservative movement, he is thus proposing a form of nationalism consistent with the DNA of his political family, and a structured autonomist doctrine that will force Quebec and Canadian actors to take a stand.
Étienne-Alexandre Beauregard is an author and researcher at Cardus. His latest book, Anti-Civilization: Why Our Societies Are Collapsing from Within, was published in September 2025 by Presses de la Cité. He was formerly a speechwriter and strategic planning advisor in the office of the Premier of Québec.
