Nineteen months after they were ousted from power, the Liberals in Quebec will form the province's next majority government.
The Liberals entered this election campaign as the official opposition, but battled back from a public backlash and integrity questions that saw the province elect its first Parti Québécois minority government in the fall of 2012.
Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard will also take his own seat of Roberval and will become the next premier.
It was a clear message from Quebec voters that economic stability was more important than lingering questions about the party's integrity.
This was the party's first election with Couillard at the helm. The former MNA briefly left politics before returning to the party's leadership race in 2013,
Capitalizing on PQ missteps around the referendum and cultural issues, the former neurosurgeon and his team convinced Quebecers that the 'vraies affaires,' or real issues, that mattered most to the province were the economy and jobs
The Liberals took an early lead in the popular vote, with about 41 per cent, a gain of 10 percentage points over 2012.
The PQ took about 26 per cent, a drop of six percentage points from 2012.
The Coalition Avenir Québec captured about 24 per cent, down four percentage points.
Québec Solidaire took about seven per cent of the popular vote, up one point from the last election. Other party leaders
PQ Leader Pauline Marois was behind Liberal candidate Caroline Simard by 235 votes with only 11 polls left to report in her riding of Charlevoix-Côte-de-Beaupré.
CAQ Leader François Legault and Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Françoise David were both re-elected.
''I respect this democratic choice, but I do hope that you will join our party in growing numbers in the months and the years to come to build a real alternative to the Liberals,' Legault told supporters gathered in Repentigny.
'We need you to build a stronger and more prosperous Quebec, which includes all its citizens.''
Quebec's chief electoral office reported a voter turnout of almost 63 per cent as of 8:20 p.m. ET.
More than a million Quebecers cast votes in the advance polls. Liberals react to Quebec win
Prominent Liberals in the rest of Canada were quick to offer their congratulations to their Quebec colleagues.
Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau issued a statement that emphasized the result showed Quebecers have priorities above sovereignty.
'Today, Quebecers voted for a better economy, instead of a third referendum, by electing Philippe Couillard as their new premier and giving the Quebec Liberal Party a strong mandate to address the real issues in the province,' the statement reads.
Ontario Liberal Leader and Premier Kathleen Wynne offered her congratulations on Twitter.
Congratulations @phcouillard and @LiberalQuebec on your victory! Looking forward to working with you #qc2014- Kathleen Wynne (@Kathleen_Wynne) April 8, 2014 Star candidates shine
Media mogul Pierre Karl Péladeau will win his seat in the riding of Saint-Jérôme, CBC is projecting.
Péladeau took the seat for the Parti Québécois at the expense of the CAQ.
Two of the Liberal stars, Gaétan Barette who swapped from the CAQ to the Liberals this election, and Hélène David, sister of Québec Solidaire spokeswoman Françoise David, will also win in their respective ridings.
The PQ's Léo Bureau-Blouin, the youngest MNA in Quebec's history and a star of the student movement, is trailing in his race in the Laval-des-Rapides riding.
Across Quebec, a total of 814 candidates were running for election and 6,012,440 people were registered to vote.
This was the second time Quebecers have gone to the polls in the past 19 months.
Premier Marois triggered the election on March 5 when it became clear that the Liberals and CAQ would not support her minority government's budget.
Marois gambled with the early election call, hoping her party could pull out of its position as a minority government and convince Quebecers to give them a majority mandate.
However, the provincial Liberals put up a significant fight, polling higher than the PQ for the better part of half of the campaign.
The PQ's campaign focused largely on identity politics. However, when the tactic skewed too close to the sovereignity question, some voters pulled away from the party.
At the centre of its platform was the secular charter legislation, which would ban the wearing of overt religious symbols by public-sector workers. The legislation is popular outside urban centres such as Montreal or Quebec City.
However, it has been met with fierce opposition by some school boards, health-care institutions and municipalities.
Post By http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-votes-2014/quebec-election-liberals-win-majority-1.2601555
0 comments Blogger 0 Facebook
Post a Comment