Quebec election: 880 candidates in the running for Oct. 3 election

Quebec party leaders are fanned out across the province on Day 22 of the election campaign.

Coalition Avenir Quebec Leader Francois Legault will be in the Quebec City-area riding of Portneuf, won by his party in 2018, before travelling to Lotbiniere-Frontenac.

Quebec solidaire spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois will make a campaign promise on mental health in Sherbrooke, Que., today before also travelling to Thetford Mines to meet with the party's candidate in Lotbiniere-Frontenac.

Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is in Saguenay, about 250-kilometres north of Quebec City, where he will talk about older adults, before moving on to Tadoussac, about 215 kilometres northeast of the provincial capital.

Quebec Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade travels to Shawinigan for a news conference in the Laviolette--Saint-Maurice riding, one day after her party was the only one of the five main parties to not have a candidate in each of the province's 125 ridings, falling one short after Saturday's deadline.

Elections Quebec says a total of 880 candidates are running in the Oct. 3 election, down from 940 in 2018.

In a statement, officials say 43 per cent of candidates are women, up from 40 per cent four years ago, and there is an average of seven candidates per riding with the Montreal riding of Verdun boasting the most, with 11 candidates on the ballot.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2022.