Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois

Early life Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois was born in a family of activists: his parents met in the Jeunesse Étudiante Chrétienne (Young Christian Students). His father was also an environmental and union activist.

2012 student protests Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois at a news conference during the 22 June 2012 protest in Quebec City.

Ever since the beginning of the 2012 Quebec student protests, Nadeau-Dubois was considered by the media as one of the leaders of the student movement, along with Léo Bureau-Blouin and Martine Desjardins, if not the leader (although they were officially referred to as spokespersons).

Political career Nadeau-Dubois at the March for Climate Action, Montreal in 2019. In the past, Nadeau-Dubois has said he was not interested in being a politician. Speaking on the popular Quebec television show Tout le monde en parle on 23 November 2014, he announced he had donated his $25,000 Governor-General's Award prize money to fight the Energy East pipeline project, and that he has raised a further $385,000 to support the fight against the project, which is owned by TransCanada Pipelines and would funnel oil sands bitumen via Eastern Canada for export to foreign markets.

In March 2017, Nadeau-Dubois decided to seek the nomination to be Québec solidaire's co-spokesperson, and also its candidate in the Montreal riding of Gouin vacated by Françoise David. Québec solidaire is a left-wing socialist party which also supports Quebec sovereignty. He stated that the Parti Québécois and the Liberals were his adversaries, with Option nationale, another sovereignist and left-wing party, being the only party who shares his worldview. Later that year, Option nationale merged into Québec solidaire.

Nadeau-Dubois won the byelection on 29 May 2017 and became MNA for Gouin. In the Quebec general election of 1 October 2018, Nadeau-Dubois again won Gouin for Québec solidaire, with 59.14% of the vote. He was, until 2025, the party's parliamentary leader and was the party's candidate for premier in the 2022 Quebec general election.

The party finished second in overall votes for the first time in its history, winning 15.4% of the vote and eleven seats, its most ever. On 20 March 2025, days after the 2025 Terrebonne provincial by-election, Nadeau-Dubois resigned as male co-spokesperson and announced that he would not seek re-election in the 2026 general election. He cited the challenges faced by Québec solidaire over the past two years for his resignation. During his tenure, he was criticized by some party members for moderating some of its policy positions.

In literature A novel titled Tenir parole was published in Spring 2017, whose protagonist is an embattled Nadeau-Dubois during the 2012 student strike and which is narrated from a first-person perspective.

Honours

Prix Impératif français 2013. Governor General’s Literary Awards 2014 for Tenir tête.