François Legault has been elected to a second term as Quebec premier with a majority government, CTV News said.
Within eight minutes of polls closing across the province at 8 p.m. ET, CTV News reported that Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) party has secured a landslide victory in the Quebec legislature.
"More pride! More richer!" said Legault's deputy premier, Genevieve Guilbault, as she summed up the feelings of her party's victory.
For anyone paying attention to the Quebec election campaign over the past 36 days, the CAQ's victory was no real surprise.
Poll after poll predicted Legault's party would secure a sweeping electoral victory.
Legault increased his party's influence in the National Assembly with 92 seats won as of 10:00 p.m. On Monday, compared to the 74 seats he won in the 2018 election.
At the dissolution, the CAQ held 76 of the legislature's 125 seats, while the Liberals held 27, Quebec Solidaire 10 and the Parti Quebecois seven. The Conservative Party of Quebec had one seat and there were four independents.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was among Canadian political leaders to congratulate Legault on his victory Monday night. In a statement, Trudeau looked forward to "continuing to work with Premier Legault and the Quebec government to address issues important to Quebecers and all Canadians."
The 2022 election appeared to be a race for second place, as polls suggested official opposition status was up for grabs between the Quebec Liberal Party and Quebec Solidaire.
CTV News said shortly after the polls closed that the Liberals would retain their status as the official opposition in the National Assembly.
ANGLADE, NADEAU-DUBOIS RE-ELECTED
Meanwhile, CTV News said Quebec solidaire co-spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois is keeping his seat in the Montreal riding of Gouin.
All other party leaders have so far won their seats, except for Paul St. PQ's Pierre Plamondon, whose ride on Camille-Laurin was too close to call at 22:20. and Eric Duhaime, leader of the Quebec Conservative Party. Duhaime was defeated by the CAQ candidate by about 5,000 votes.
Dominique Anglade won her Montreal riding of Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne with 36 percent of the vote and 164 polls.
The CAQ saw some significant gains Monday night, particularly in ridings that were up for grabs after the incumbent announced he would not seek re-election.
Yannick Gagnon easily won the seat of Jonquière with 60 percent of the vote – the seat left vacant after veteran PQ MNA Sylvain Gaudreault quit the race.
In Joliette, where incumbent Veronique Hivon left the race after 14 years in politics, the CAQ's François St-Louis won with 43 percent of voter support to the PQ's 32 percent.
Legault spent part of the day Monday in the Quebec City area asking voters to support his party.
“We need your vote because we want to continue — to continue — the fight for a more prosperous, greener and prouder Quebec,” he said Monday.
The CAQ campaign was rocky at times with a few missteps by the incumbent Prime Minister, although they did not appear to turn voters away from the party in large numbers. On two occasions, Legault was forced to apologize for comments he made on the campaign trail. In one instance, the CAQ leader said he regretted drawing parallels between immigrants and "violence" and "extremists".
He also apologized to the family of Joyce Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw woman who died on September 28, 2020, after saying issues of racism had been "sorted out" at the hospital where she died.
During his four years in power, Legault passed 125 laws in the National Assembly, including legislation to replace school boards with school service centers, a revised French-language charter, and a controversial secularism law that banned civil servants from office, including teachers. from wearing religious symbols at work.
All three bills passed by the CAQ government are currently being challenged in the courts, but it was Bill 96 and Bill 21 that surprised many with their exceptional use of the notwithstanding clause.
Source: ottawa.ctvnews.ca
