A CHOI Radio X journalist will carry the Parti Québécois (PQ) banner in the Charlevoix-Côte-de-Beaupré riding. François Gariépy will try to unseat CAQ Sports, Recreation and Outdoor Activities Minister Kariane Bourassa, a former TVA journalist. His candidacy was announced Wednesday by PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. “François represents a current within our broad political family that needs greater representation: the economic right,” he wrote on social media. “I said it during my 2020 leadership campaign: The PQ is, and must always remain, as broad a coalition as possible, welcoming people from both the right and the left.” Before becoming a journalist at Radio X, Gariépy wrote for Voir magazine, among other publications, and was also an entrepreneur who worked in the cultural sector. In his message, St-Pierre Plamondon said his candidate had covered as a journalist the “countless episodes of blatant waste” by the CAQ government. He said a Parti Québécois government would seek to bring about a “major change in mindset within the state apparatus,” including by “increasing efficiency.” CHOI Radio X is a right-wing radio station in Quebec City known for its outspoken hosts and on-air tirades that have sparked controversy in the past. Earlier this week, the PQ announced the candidacy of another journalist, Stéphanie Martin of the Journal de Québec, in the Vanier-Les-Rivières riding in Quebec City. The party hopes to make gains in the greater Quebec City region on Oct. 5. It currently holds only the Jean-Talon riding. However, it could face competition from the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ), as Éric Duhaime’s party is confident it can elect its first-ever MNAs in the region. Former Radio X host Dominique Dumas, who is running for the Conservatives in Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, took a shot at the PQ on Wednesday. “(François Gariépy) is a sovereigntist, but not on the right … perhaps that works for a party like the PQ, clearly on the left, which has no serious right-wing candidate,” he wrote on X. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Aug. 19, 2026.
