Catherine Gentilcore

Catherine Gentilcore MNA (born October 19, 1985) is a Canadian politician, activist, and manager, who was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in a 2025 provincial by-election. She represents the electoral district of Terrebonne as a member of the Parti Québécois (PQ). She has been president of the PQ since October 29, 2023.

Catherine Gentilcore MNA
Catherine Gentilcore in 2023
President of the Parti Québécois
Incumbent
Assumed office October 28, 2023
Preceded by	Jocelyn Caron
Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for Terrebonne
Incumbent
Assumed office March 17, 2025
Preceded by	Pierre Fitzgibbon
Personal details
Born	(1985-10-19) October 19, 1985 (age 39) Repentigny, Quebec, Canada
Political party	Parti Québécois
Alma mater	University of Montreal

Biography

Catherine Gentilcore holds a bachelor's degree in classical singing. She also pursued graduate studies in journalism at the Université de Montréal and in marketing communications at HEC Montréal. Catherine Gentilcore was marketing director of the Montreal daily newspaper Le Devoir, the Opéra de Montréal and C2 Montréal, before assuming the position of President and CEO of Numana,^[1] a company working in the field of digital technologies.

Gentilcore is an advocate for Quebec independence.^[2] She promotes engagement with Anglophones for the cause of sovereignty.^[3]

She became vice-president of the National Executive Council of the Parti Québécois in December 2021 and was elected president of the political party in October 2023.^[4]

On March 20, 2024, Catherine Gentilcore asked the Director General of Élections Québec to investigate the compliance with the law of certain donations from elected officials and municipal administrators to the Coalition avenir Québec, the political party forming the government.^[5][6]

On November 28, 2024, the Parti Québécois announced that Catherine Gentilcore would be the party's candidate in the upcoming by-election in the riding of Terrebonne.^[7] The main issue in the campaign was the United States trade war with Canada and Mexico.^[8] She was the main challenger to the incumbent CAQ which had held the seat since 2018.^[9] She won the seat in a gain for the PQ.^[10] She is currently the only PQ woman MNA.^[11]

Electoral history

Quebec provincial by-election, March 17, 2025: Terrebonne Resignation of Pierre Fitzgibbon
** Preliminary results — Not yet official **
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parti Québécois	Catherine Gentilcore	11,935	52.74	+33.86
	Coalition Avenir Québec	Alex Gagné	6,513	28.78	-20.66
	Liberal	Virginie Bouchard	1,845	8.15	-2.02
	Québec solidaire	Nadia Poirier	1,029	4.55	-8.11
	Conservative	Ange Claude Bigilimana	845	3.73	-4.20
	Climat Québec	Benoit Beauchamp	175	0.77	–
	Parti culinaire	Jean-Louis Thémis	145	0.64	–
	Union Nationale	Eric Bernier	95	0.42	–
	Parti accès propriété et équité	Shawn Lalande McLean	48	0.21	–
Total valid votes			22,630	98.80
Total rejected ballots			276	1.20	-0.08
Turnout			22,906	37.28	-33.91
Electors on the lists			61,451
	Parti Québécois gain from Coalition Avenir Québec		Swing		+27.27

See also

• Parti québécois
• Le Devoir
• Opéra de Montréal
• C2 Montréal

Further reading

• Hugo Pilon-Larose, "Une nouvelle génération aux commandes", La Presse, 25 janvier 2023.
• Patrice Bergeron, "Le Parti québécois cherche déjà des candidates pour les élections générales de 2026", Le Soleil [La Presse Canadienne], 28 octobre 2023.
• Alexandre Duval, "Les nouveaux apôtres du Parti québécois", Radio-Canada, 17 janvier 2024.