Do we like Yves-François Blanchet?
Our score: 6 out of 10. A decent record on what we could find, but thin on LGBTQ+ issues, with one contested position and an unresolved anonymous allegation he denies.
Blanchet was born in Drummondville in 1965 and studied history and anthropology at the Université de Montréal. Before politics he taught, worked in the music industry, founded a concert-management firm and led a non-profit backing Quebec's independent artists. He also did two years as president of Quebec's Earth Day, so the green streak is not new.
He was first elected to Quebec's National Assembly for the Parti Québécois in 2008 and scraped back in 2012 by about 200 votes. He served as government whip and as environment minister, then lost his seat to the CAQ in 2014. After a stint as a commentator and columnist, he took over the Bloc unopposed in January 2019 and delivered 32 seats at the first go.
The messy bit: in July 2020 an anonymous Facebook page posted an allegation of sexual misconduct against him at a Montreal bar in 1999. Global News could not verify it. Blanchet denied it, saying “I have never acted the way that has been alleged,” and called the post defamatory. The Bloc caucus backed him, and no investigation result was reported, so it sits as an unproven, anonymous claim.
A smaller stoush came in February 2020 after a pipeline ruling. Blanchet kept pointing out that the judges had been named by the federal government, and the Advocates' Society called his remarks “unfounded” and “improper”. He said he never claimed judges weren't independent. It's a bit rough as political tactics go, but it's a long way from hurting anyone.
On the harm test, we found no words or acts from him against LGBTQ+ people, women or migrants, and we couldn't find a trans-specific statement either way, which is a gap. His contested ground is Quebec identity politics: after the 2025 election he said any cooperation with Carney depended on respecting Quebec's positions on secularism, immigration and French. Whether you read that as protecting a distinct society or as backing laws critics find unfair is where you'll land.
On the recent stuff, he set an October 2025 deadline for the seniors' pension and dairy supply-management bills or the Bloc would stop propping up the Liberals. After the 2025 election he called a “partisan truce” so Parliament could deal with the trade fight with the US. In January 2026 he demanded Carney apologise for his Plains of Abraham remarks, and in February he fronted the Terrebonne rematch.