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Charest wins nail-biter: Minority government |
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It was a close call, but Premier Jean Charest, the MNA from Sherbrooke, hung onto both his seat and his government in one of the closest election races in Quebec history. The Liberals eked out a slim minority - the first minority government in more than a century of Quebec politics.
Charest won his seat in Sherbrooke by a 1,332-vote majority. At last count, he had 13,136 votes, compared to the Parti quebecois' Claude Forgues' 11,804 votes. The crowd in the convention centre at the Delta Hotel in Sherbrooke, the Liberal party headquarters, roared its approval when Charest snuck by Forgues. But an hour or so earlier, the mood in the room had been quite the opposite, after Radio Canada prematurely announced that Forgues had knocked the incumbent out of his seat.
Charest's supporters refused to believe the news, though, because they knew that the advanced polls had not yet been counted, and that those would likely put Charest over the top. The Liberals worked hard to get out the vote for the advanced polls. Fourteen per cent of Sherbrooke voters had already cast ballots before Monday's election. That's twice as many as in 2003.
Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, a longtime Charest supporter and the neighbouring MNA from St. Francois got a standing ovation when she entered the room. She said a minority government will be a new experience. "It's a new dynamic. We've never been through this before," she added. "Charest, who is able to achieve consensus, is the best person to lead a minority government."
At the end of the evening, Charest said: "The people of Quebec have spoken, and given us a Liberal minority. It's a historic event. No one alive can remember such a thing happening."
Charest said he was touched by the support of thousands from every region of the province, and he thanked them from the bottom of his heart. He congratulated both Boisclair and Dumont.
"The Liberal Party of Quebec and I will have to draw a lesson. And we'll continue to lead Quebec with a very strong opposition. This will be a big challenge. Quebec is divided, and it is up to us elected officials to reunite Quebecers."
Throughout the final days of the campaign, pollsters and pundits - and even optimistic party strategists - said the election was too close to call, due to the strong showing by Mario Dumont and his Action Democratique du Quebec. Quebec experienced one of the tightest three-way races in its history. The Liberals finished with 48 seats in the National Assembly. Dumont's right wing populist party won 41 seats. The PQ finished with 36 seats.
Charest, who spent the last few days of a grueling 33-day campaign warning about the dangers of a coalition between Mario Dumont and Parti Qu?b?cois leader Andre Boisclair, was clearly disappointed.
Charest will be going back to Quebec City with a smaller team. Among the cabinet heavyweights that fell to the ADQ was Michel Despres, transport minister.
In Sherbrooke, ADQ candidate Michel Dumont came in third with 6,403 votes, followed by Quebec Solidaire Party candidate Christian Bibeau with 2,263 votes, and Green Party Candidate Steve Dubious, with 2,203 votes. Independent Hubert Richard came in last with 115 votes. Charest's majority was smaller than in 2003 when he beat former PQ MNA and party vice-president Marie Malavoy by some 2500 votes.
Pundits pontificated about how this was the first election since 1976 where the choice didn't come down to a selection between federalists and sovereigntist options because Quebecers were offered a third alternative: Dumont's autonomist option.
Despite that, as the campaign came down to the wire on the weekend, sovereignty became the issue. Charest painted Dumont as a closet sovereigntist, Dumont claimed sovereignty was dead, and Boisclair said that if he led a minority government he would convince Dumont to come over to the Yes side.
The election was fought in Quebec City and what Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Simpson has referred to as "the hinterlands". With its west Island Liberal strongholds and the east end chateau forts of the PQ, not much changed on the Island of Montreal. The real battle for Quebec was waged in the Quebec City area, where the ADQ mounted strong challenges to most incumbents, and in the francophone ridings of mainland Quebec.
Even the Liberal bastion of the Townships, were lone PQ MP Claude Boucher had held the fort of his party, faced a serious challenge from the upstart ADQ which was a factor in Frontenac, Megantic-Compton, Drummond, Johnson and Shefford.
While the ADQ did not win power on Monday night, it was the only clear winner. The populist party, which was formed by Dumont 13 years ago, needed 12 seats or 20 per cent of the popular vote to attain official party status in the National Assembly.
The ADQ will also go from an opposition party of some five members to a party of at least 41 members who will be able to exert considerable influence in a minority government.
While he ran neck and neck with Charest, Andre Boisclair was the clear loser in a party that eats its failed leaders for lunch. Some observers noted that if Boisclair did not win 45 seats, or one third of the popular vote, he would be shown the door.
In his concession speech, Boisclair said, "Democracy has spoken." He congratulated Charest on his victory and his own troops for their hard work. Still, he was booed by some of Charest's people at the Delta. Said Boisclair, "We have the duty to keep the flame (of sovereignty) alive for future generations."
Aside from the three front runners, a total of 10 parties ran candidates in the general election, including the left wing Quebec Solidaire and the Green Party of Quebec. The Townships had a number of fringers, including a Bloc Pot candidate in Shefford and Sherbrooke's perennial candidate Hubert Richard, who also ran for for mayoral seat.
By Rita Legault
March 27 |
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Montreal Canadiens
