Heading the third minority government in the history of Quebec – and the second in the last decade – Marois took two weeks to craft her cabinet, naming 25 ministers on September 19.
At its first meeting, the new Marois government was quick to honour campaign commitments and cancelled a slew of decisions of the outgoing Charest administration.
The Marois government suspended most sections of Bill 78, an emergency bill aimed at stopping the 2012 Quebec student protests, cancelled a loan guarantee to restart the Jeffrey asbestos mine in Thetford Mines and abandoned the Gentilly-2 Nuclear Generating Station refurbishment project.

As Premier, she laid out an agenda designed to promote "sovereigntist governance" in relations with the rest of Canada, to return Quebec to balanced budgets through higher taxes and debt reduction, to increase the use of French in public services, and to address resource development in Northern Quebec.
Many aspects of these policies – such as restrictions on the use of English and on access to higher Education in English – occurred at a time when the use of French in commerce, education, and the workforce is increasing in Quebec‹See TfM›and are widely viewed as an affront to immigrants and to citizens whose mother tongue is not French.‹See TfM› Such measures have also been questioned by native speakers of French, who recognize the benefits of a knowledge of other languages, including English, and the fact that the knowledge of other languages will not cause them to abandon French as their primary language.

Marois then called the National Assembly into session at the end of October.
Soon after, her Democratic Reform minister, Bernard Drainville, introduced Bills 1 and 2 to strengthen rules on contracts and banish unreputable government contractors from doing business with the Quebec government and affiliated entities.
The second one establishes a new political financing framework financed almost entirely on public funding.
The bill also limits political contributions to provincial parties at C$100 a year ($200 in election years).
The new system finances from the cancellation of the political donations tax credit.

Finance and Economy minister Nicolas Marceau introduced his 2013–2014 budget in the fall.
The budget laid out revenues, without specifying expenditures.
These were presented later, after the budget had passed.
The budget projects a break-even operating balance by the end of fiscal year 2013/14 mainly by slowing down the rate of growth of public spending.
The budget implemented higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol and modifies – but didn't cancel outright – the $200 health tax passed in Raymond Bachand's 2010 budget, adding an element of progressiveness to it.
The Marceau budget also changed the planned increase to the low-cost heritage pool electricity sold by Hydro-Québec to every Quebecker.
Instead of raising the heritage pool price from 2.79 to 3.79¢/kWh from 2014 to 2018 as set by the previous government in 2010, the PQ government chose to let the rate increase with inflation while asking government-owned Hydro-Québec to increase its dividend.
The budget narrowly passed on November 30, 2012, in spite of objections by the Liberals and CAQ.
Subsequent to passage of the budget, the PQ government announced increased expenditures in the area of subsidized child care, while cutting payments to universities.
The latter cuts to university funding included a retroactive cut of $124 million in the 2012–2013 fiscal year, an action criticized by both university rectors and student leaders.
Heading the third minority government in the history of Quebec – and the second in the last decade – Marois took two weeks to craft her cabinet, naming 25 ministers on September 19. At its first meeting, the new Marois government was quick to honour campaign commitments and cancelled a slew of decisions of the outgoing Charest administration. The Marois government suspended most sections of Bill 78, an emergency bill aimed at stopping the 2012 Quebec student protests, cancelled a loan guarantee to restart the Jeffrey asbestos mine in Thetford Mines and abandoned the Gentilly-2 Nuclear Generating Station refurbishment project.
As Premier, she laid out an agenda designed to promote "sovereigntist governance" in relations with the rest of Canada, to return Quebec to balanced budgets through higher taxes and debt reduction, to increase the use of French in public services, and to address resource development in Northern Quebec. Many aspects of these policies – such as restrictions on the use of English and on access to higher Education in English – occurred at a time when the use of French in commerce, education, and the workforce is increasing in Quebec‹See TfM›and are widely viewed as an affront to immigrants and to citizens whose mother tongue is not French.‹See TfM› Such measures have also been questioned by native speakers of French, who recognize the benefits of a knowledge of other languages, including English, and the fact that the knowledge of other languages will not cause them to abandon French as their primary language.
Marois then called the National Assembly into session at the end of October. Soon after, her Democratic Reform minister, Bernard Drainville, introduced Bills 1 and 2 to strengthen rules on contracts and banish unreputable government contractors from doing business with the Quebec government and affiliated entities. The second one establishes a new political financing framework financed almost entirely on public funding. The bill also limits political contributions to provincial parties at C$100 a year ($200 in election years). The new system finances from the cancellation of the political donations tax credit.
Finance and Economy minister Nicolas Marceau introduced his 2013–2014 budget in the fall. The budget laid out revenues, without specifying expenditures. These were presented later, after the budget had passed. The budget projects a break-even operating balance by the end of fiscal year 2013/14 mainly by slowing down the rate of growth of public spending. The budget implemented higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol and modifies – but didn't cancel outright – the $200 health tax passed in Raymond Bachand's 2010 budget, adding an element of progressiveness to it. The Marceau budget also changed the planned increase to the low-cost heritage pool electricity sold by Hydro-Québec to every Quebecker. Instead of raising the heritage pool price from 2.79 to 3.79¢/kWh from 2014 to 2018 as set by the previous government in 2010, the PQ government chose to let the rate increase with inflation while asking government-owned Hydro-Québec to increase its dividend. The budget narrowly passed on November 30, 2012, in spite of objections by the Liberals and CAQ. Subsequent to passage of the budget, the PQ government announced increased expenditures in the area of subsidized child care, while cutting payments to universities. The latter cuts to university funding included a retroactive cut of $124 million in the 2012–2013 fiscal year, an action criticized by both university rectors and student leaders.
Pauline Marois