The leader of the surging Coalition avenir Quebec is turning to a two-time defeated Parti Quebecois candidate to win a riding that has been a PQ stronghold for 33 years.
Martyne Prevost is seeking victory this fall in Marie-Victorin, just south of Montreal.
The businesswoman ran for the PQ in the 2007 and 2008 elections in another riding.
Prevost says she is no longer a sovereigntist and would vote No if there were an independence referendum.
The PQ's Catherine Fournier won Marie-Victorin in a byelection in 2016 with more than 52 per cent of the vote, while the Coalition candidate finished third with 14 per cent.
Several recent opinion polls have had the Coalition leading in the province or running neck and neck with the governing Liberals.
The Liberals have 67 of the national assembly's 125 seats, compared with 28 for the PQ, 21 for the Coalition and three for Quebec solidaire. There are six Independents.
The election is expected to be officially launched at the end of August and will be held Oct. 1.