From 1995 to 1998, Legault sat on the boards of various companies, including Provigo Inc., Culinar, Sico, Technilab Inc. and Bestar Inc.,[6] and the Marc-Aurèle Fortin private museum.

He eventually came to believe that the decades-long debate over sovereignty had hindered Quebec's economic progress, and founded the CAQ as a party focused on developing the economy first.

[22] On October 18, 2018, Legault was sworn in as Premier of Quebec, marking the end of nearly 50 years of Liberal and Parti Québécois rule in the province.

Bill 21, entitled "An Act respecting the laicity of the State", if made law, would ban public workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols.

[25] The bill passed on June 17 by a 73–35 vote, with backing of the Parti Québécois while the Liberals and Quebec Solidaire were opposed.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec government also introduced a last-minute amendment toughening the law, making provisions for a minister to verify that it is being obeyed and to demand corrective measures if necessary.

Despite Legault's apologies for his comments, the immigration debate has been described as superficial, focusing on numbers and ambiguous concepts such as the province's capacity for integration.

Pierre Fortin, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the UQAM, describes the figure proposed by Blackburn as "unreasonable," warning that it could lead to administrative chaos and encourage xenophobic and racist attitudes toward immigrants.

[28] On the other hand, Mireille Paquet, Professor of Political Science at Concordia University, questions this theory, indicating that research does not provide definitive answers and that negative reactions against immigrants are more due to feelings of insecurity among the non-immigrant population, feelings that can be exacerbated by public policies such as cuts to social services.

[29] This situation has been compared by some critics to an "extremely concerning trend of xenophobic populism" observed in Europe and other parts of the world.

[29] France-Isabelle Langlois, director of Amnesty International Canada, expressed her outrage, particularly in response to comments made by the Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, who stated that the "Québécois identity" is threatened by immigrants, which was interpreted as hate speech and xenophobic rhetoric.

[30] The most critical aspect of this situation is the limited number of annual admissions set by François Legault's government, approximately 10,400, despite an inventory of nearly 40,000 pending cases.

This limitation creates a significant bottleneck, resulting in a backlog of cases and great distress among the affected couples.

[32] In August 2019, Legault told businesses who called for an increase in immigration that they needed to boost wages if they wanted to find workers.

[36][37] In June 2022, Legault stated he was against multiculturalism, in favor of supporting interculturalism and integration, which would include immigrants assimilating into Quebec and learning French.

[42][43][44] Legault apologized to First Nations and Inuit in October 2019 for discrimination they suffered in dealing with the state, noting the Government of Quebec had failed in its duty to them.

In May, Canada's chief science adviser, Mona Nemer, criticized Quebec for its lack of testing and tracing strategy.

His government in early 2020 formed an online directory of local Quebec retailers in a website called Le Panier Bleu — or Blue Basket.

The aim of Le Panier Bleu is to be a local version and a competitor to Amazon to sell Quebec products.

[53][54] As early as November 2019 Legault supported calls for the creation of a Quebec version of Amazon, which his economy minister described as a way to serve nationalist customers.