Quebec’s Conservative Party (PCQ) came within a few hundred votes of winning ridings on the Oct. 3 election but failed to elect any candidates, so for now it will be observing the next four years of provincial politics from outside the National Assembly.
Nevertheless, PCQ Leader Éric Duhaime struck an optimistic note with his supporters assembled in the Quebec City area.
“Some people thought I'd be crying, but I’m smiling. Among all the parties we had by far the largest growth, something not seen in recent Quebec political history,” he said on Monday evening, pointing to the party’s increase in popular support.
PCQ candidates were competing directly in this campaign against a high-running Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), whose political offering is more to the right compared to the other main political parties in Quebec.
The ridings of Beauce-Nord and Beauce-Sud were closely contested by the PCQ, where it lost to the CAQ by 202 and 425 votes, respectively.
The conservative heartland in the province is located around the capital Quebec City and to the south in the Beauce region. Most Quebec Conservative federal MPs come from this region.
The PCQ was runner-up to the CAQ in several other ridings in that area, albeit with weaker showings than in Beauce.
Duhaime, a former radio personality, lost to the CAQ in his Quebec City area riding of Chauveau by over 6,000 votes.
Along with not winning any seats, Duhaime’s party also came in last in the popular vote among the major parties, but not by much.
The PCQ obtained 12.92 percent of the vote, trailing the more established Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) which obtained 14.38 percent. That’s a gap of a little under 60,000 votes.
By comparison, the PCQ obtained 1.46 percent of the vote in the 2018 elections.
While the PCQ didn’t win any seats, the PLQ won 21 and will form the official opposition.
The PLQ lost six seats in the contest and the other similar legacy party, the Parti Québécois, went down from seven to three. The PQ won 14.6 percent of the popular vote.
The only party to make gains other than the CAQ was Québec solidaire (QS), the furthest left on the political spectrum and a relatively new party with its first contest in 2007.
‘I Will Be There’
Duhaime told his supporters after the results came in on Oct. 3 that he had no intention of stepping down.“I will be there for the next campaign, no doubt about it,” he said.
The PCQ leader compared politics to hockey and said there are three periods to play.
He said his party won the “first period,” which had the objective to be counted amongst the major parties.
Duhaime said he didn’t expect his party would be invited to the leaders’ debate, but in the end he took credit for certain issues being raised during the campaign.
“If the Conservative Party had not been there, you can be sure there would have been no discussion about adding the contribution of the private sector in health care,” he said.
He mentioned other issues such as discussions on re-launching the GNL natural gas project and about school choice.
Duhaime said the “second period” of the game starts on Oct. 4 and consists of consolidating and growing the party base.
Duhaime said this will help the party organize and better compete in the next campaign, which he defined as the “third period.”
The PCQ ran the most recent campaign as the only party which criticized harsh pandemic restrictions imposed by Premier Legault and the only one in favour of developing Quebec’s hydrocarbon resources.
The parties platform also proposed lowering income and fuel taxes. On health care, the PCQ seeks to decentralize the system and increase the private sector’s contribution.
