CAQ's New Leader Set to Take Helm

0:00It's April 8th. This is Canada News Today, AI-powered stories from your city. I'm Cory with the story. Quebec's legislature is hitting pause until May 5th, giving the coalition Avenir Quebec's new boss time to get settled. Premier, Francois, Legault announced the pro-rogation. Wednesday, pushing back the session start from this Tuesday. It's all with the OK, from leadership hopefuls, Christine for a shet, and Bernard Drainville. This comes right as CAQ members wrap up voting for Legault's successor. He stepped down in January after struggling to rev up his government. The winner gets crowned Premier automatically, with the results dropping Sunday afternoon in Drummondville. Folks are feeling the squeeze with just five weeks of session time before the summer break on June 12th. Then straight into election mode by... October 5th. Key bills like the one for a Quebec Constitution, faster infrastructure work, and easier holds on mental health cases, are hanging in the balance. The new team can push them forward or not.

1:02Voting kicked off Tuesday, among 20,532 members, wrapping Sunday at 3 p.m. with participation already at about, 50 percent. That gives the victor breathing room to build a cabinet and drop an inaugural speech next week. Expect the swearing in soon after, setting the stage for a fresh government push before the election heat ramps up.