MONTREAL—Premier François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) has won another majority after Quebecers cast their votes on Monday.
“We got a clear message. Quebecers told us to keep going,” Legault told supporters in his victory speech in Quebec City.
Legault said the number one priority is education, and also said the economy is a pressing issue for Quebecers. He said he would keep his promises and help would be on the way.
The CAQ won 90 of the 125 seats in the National Assembly, making a gain of 14. The party will barely be represented in Montreal, however, having won only two ridings there.
The CAQ won around 41 percent of the popular vote, with the remaining share split almost evenly between the four other main parties.
Dominique Anglade’s Liberal Party (PLQ), which was the official opposition before dissolution, did not fare well. The PLQ previously had 27 seats and has now won in 21 ridings.
Anglade took her Montreal riding of Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne. The party only won seats in the greater Montreal area and the western Quebec riding of Pontiac.
Addressing supporters, Anglade said Quebecers sent a “clear message” that they wanted the PLQ as the official opposition.
The closest party behind the PLQ is Québec solidaire (QS), having won in 11 ridings.
QS, which is the furthest to the left among the main parties, had 10 seats in the Assembly before the election was called.
“Whether we like it or not, we are facing a CAQ wave, but we’re the only opposition party to resist this wave,” said QS Leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois in Montreal.
QS has won only in the urban ridings of Montreal Island, Quebec City, and Sherbrooke.
The separatist Parti québécois (PQ) won around 14.6 percent of the popular vote, but it won in only three ridings. The party had seven seats in the assembly at dissolution.
PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon won the seat in his riding of Camille-Laurin, in the eastern part of Montreal.
St-Pierre Plamondon told supporters in Boucherville his party’s result in the popular vote gives him hope for the separatist movement in the province.
He also noted that the PQ finished second in multiple ridings, and criticized the electoral system.
“Is it normal that a party that wins 40 percent of the vote wins 70 percent of the seats?” he said.
The Quebec Conservative Party (PCQ), led by radio personality Éric Duhaime, captured around 12,92 percent of the popular vote, but did not win any riding. The party finished second in multiple ridings in the centre of Quebec, losing some by a few hundred votes. Duhaime himself lost in his riding of Chauveau, trailing by over 6,000 votes.
The PCQ previously had one MNA, but it was the result of the expulsion of a CAQ member who then joined the PCQ.
However, Duhaime gave an optimistic speech to supporters in the Quebec area, saying the PCQ had fared comparatively well. As a case in point, he noted that QS supporters were ecstatic when the party obtained less than 4 percent of the vote in 2007.
Promises
Legault’s campaign slogan was “Continuons,” which means to keep doing what his party was doing.His platform has a number of promises to lessen the burden on hospitals, notably investing in “
at home hospitalization” and
creating private health-care facilities managed by the private sector but that offer care covered by the state.
On the economy and to reduce the impact of inflation, Legault
promised to lower taxes by 1 percent for the first two tax brackets starting in 2023.
As part of his inflation “shield,” Legault also promised to increase financial
support to the elderly, and announced in late August his government would be sending
checques before the end of the year to individuals making less than $100,000 annually.
