Québec Centre

Québec Centre is an urban riding in the heart of Quebec City, created through the 2022 redistribution by renaming and adjusting the former riding of Québec. It encompasses the historic Upper and Lower Town of Old Quebec—a UNESCO World Heritage Site—as well as the neighbourhoods of Saint-Roch, Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Montcalm, and the eastern portion of Sainte-Foy–Sillery, including the area around Université Laval’s main campus. The riding has a large student and young-professional population and is one of the most densely populated districts in the Quebec City region. French is the mother tongue of the vast majority of residents.

Candidates

Jean-Yves Duclos (Liberal) — First elected in 2015, Duclos is an economist who earned his doctorate from the London School of Economics and built an academic career at Université Laval, where he rose to full professor and served as director of the economics department. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and former president-elect of the Canadian Economics Association, he held a succession of senior cabinet portfolios including Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, President of the Treasury Board, Minister of Health, and Minister of Public Services and Procurement.

Simon Bérubé (Bloc Québécois) — Originally from the Lower St. Lawrence and established in Quebec City for roughly 20 years, Bérubé studied media arts and technologies at Cégep de Jonquière before completing a degree in political science at Université Laval. A former journalist who worked in the Lower St. Lawrence, the Northwest Territories, and Beauce, he serves as head of the New England desk in the US Affairs Directorate at Quebec’s Ministry of International Relations and Francophonie.

Tommy Bureau (NDP) — Bureau studied applied politics and business administration at the Université de Sherbrooke. He has worked in the community sector as an animator and manager, co-founded an eco-responsible business helping entrepreneurs reduce their environmental footprint, and coordinates the Collective Actions Movement for Environmental and Social Transition. He also co-hosts a radio program on CKIA-FM in Quebec City.

Daniel Brisson (People’s Party) — Brisson represented the People’s Party of Canada in the riding, running on the party’s platform of fiscal conservatism, reduced immigration, and opposition to carbon pricing.

Patrick Kerr (Independent) — Kerr ran as an independent candidate in Québec Centre, offering voters an alternative outside the established party structures.

About the Riding

Québec Centre is the cultural and institutional heart of the provincial capital. The Plains of Abraham, the Citadelle, the Château Frontenac, and the National Assembly of Quebec all sit within or adjacent to the riding’s boundaries. Tourism is a major economic driver, as Old Quebec draws millions of visitors annually. Université Laval, with its main campus in the Cité-Universitaire district of Sainte-Foy, is the riding’s largest institutional employer and shapes the neighbourhood’s character with a large student population.

The Saint-Roch neighbourhood, once a declining industrial quarter, has undergone significant revitalization and is now a hub for technology start-ups, digital media firms, and creative industries. This gentrification has brought economic energy but also contributed to rising rents and displacement concerns.

In 2025, the campaign was dominated by housing affordability and the cost of living in a riding where many residents are renters, the adequacy of federal transfers for healthcare and social services, and the impact of US trade tensions on Quebec City’s economy. Duclos’s extensive cabinet record gave him high name recognition but also made him a target for opposition candidates seeking to hold the Liberal government accountable for its spending and policy decisions.