SAGUENAY — Voters in the Quebec riding of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord are heading to the polls to choose who will succeed Richard Martel as their representative in the House of Commons.
Martel, a Conservative MP who had represented the Saguenay-area riding since 2018, left his seat in the House of Commons after accepting an appointment to the Senate from Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The byelection that followed appears headed for a close finish, with two polls during the campaign placing Bloc Québécois candidate Caroline Dubé, Liberal Daniel Gobeil and Conservative Régis Gaudreault as the three leading contenders.
The most recent poll, published on Aug. 25, and conducted by Segma Recherche for Saguenay radio station CKAJ, puts Gobeil and Dubé neck-and-neck, with 40 per cent and 38 per cent support respectively.
Gaudreault trailed at 17 per cent in the survey of 448 respondents with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.
Throughout the campaign, the Liberals have argued that voters in Chicoutimi—Le Fjord would benefit from having an MP on the government benches, particularly as Canada continues to deal with the trade war with the United States.
They have also fielded a candidate with strong ties to one of the region’s key industries. Gobeil is the former president of Les Producteurs de lait du Québec, an organization representing Quebec dairy farmers.
Carney has pointed to Gobeil’s candidacy as a guarantee that Canada’s supply-management system for dairy, poultry and eggs will not be sacrificed in an effort to ease tensions with the United States.
The Bloc Québécois, which runs candidates only in Quebec and advocates for Quebec’s interests and sovereignty, has put forward Dubé. She previously worked for Mario Simard, the Bloc MP for the neighbouring federal riding of Jonquière, and ran provincially for the sovereigntist Parti Québécois in the provincial riding of the same name in 2022.
Gaudreault also has political experience. A longtime lawyer and teacher at Cégep de Chicoutimi, a public college in the Quebec system, he previously worked with Jean-Pierre Blackburn, a former Conservative cabinet minister who represented the former federal riding of Jonquière—Alma.
Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, located in Quebec’s Saguenay—Lac-St-Jean region, includes dairy producers as well as forestry workers affected by U.S. tariffs and workers in the aluminum industry, which plays a major role in the regional economy.
Both the Bloc and the Conservatives have said they heard less about the trade dispute sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump while campaigning this time than they did during the 2025 federal election.
Conservatives said voters were more likely to raise concerns about the cost of living and immigration. The Bloc, meanwhile, said it heard frequently about the financial difficulties facing seniors.
Still, trade tensions with the United States intensified considerably during the final days of the Chicoutimi—Le Fjord campaign, putting the tariff war, now a year and a half old, back in the headlines.
The Bloc said it believes voters have grown accustomed to the uncertainty surrounding the latest moves from the White House.
Polls in Chicoutimi—Le Fjord will close at 9:30 p.m.
Two other federal byelections are also taking place, in Beaches—East York in Ontario and North Vancouver—Capilano in British Columbia.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2026.
Émilie Bergeron, The Canadian Press
