Christine Fréchette
Christine Fréchette is a Canadian politician who was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2022 Quebec general election. She represents the Sanguinet electoral district as a member of the Coalition Avenir Québec.
Professional career
From 1995 to 1996, Fréchette was research and information coordinator at the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec. In 1996, she represented university students during a summit on the social and economic future of Quebec. The same year, she began working for the National Assembly of Quebec as international affairs advisor to the parliamentary conference of the Americas, and as administrative secretary to the Franco-Quebec interparliamentary commission.From 2000 to 2002, Fréchette was a consultant to the Conseil supérieur de la langue française. She continued her work as a public affairs consultant in private practice from 2002 to 2008. In 2002, she founded the forum for North American intégration, and was president of this organisation until 2011. From 2007 à 2012, Fréchette worked for the Centre d'études et de recherches internationales de l'Université de Montréal as coordinator of the study centers of the United States and Mexico.
From 2008 to 2012, Fréchette was a political analyst in the media. In 2012, Fréchette joined the cabinet of Jean-François Lisée, who was minister for international relations, as a press attachée and deputy chief of staff.
After the electoral defeat of the Parti Québécois in 2014, Fréchette pursued her career with Montréal International as director of external and institutional relations until 2016. Subsequently, from 2016 to 2021, she was president of the Eastern Montreal chamber of commerce. She left the PQ after it introduced the Quebec Charter of Values.
Political career
Muncipal
Fréchette stood for election to the Montréal borough of Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles with Denis Coderre and Ensemble Montréal, in the 2021 elections in Montreal.Provincial
In August 2022, the leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec, François Legault, announced Fréchette as his party's candidate in the Quebec district of Sanguinet in the 2022 Quebec general election. Fréchette has been described as a synthesis between the economic and nationalist factions of the CAQ.She was appointed Minister of Immigration, Francization and Integration in the François Legault government in October 2022. She soon became responsible for discussions with the federal Minister of Immigration Marc Miller around quotas for family reunification.
Following the resignation of François Legault, she announced her candidacy in the 2026 Coalition Avenir Québec leadership election at an event in Trois-Rivières on January 25, 2026. She has been endorsed by multiple sitting MNAs.