Liberals prevail in Quebec election
By Michael J.W. Stickings
Here's the latest, as of 1:37 am, from the CBC:
-- Liberal Party (48 seats; 33.08% of the vote)
-- Action Démocratique du Québec (41 seats; 30.80% of the vote)
-- Parti Québécois (36 seats; 28.32% of the vote)
Premier Jean Charest's centrist and federalist Liberals thus win a second mandate, although they will govern in the minority in a closely divided National Assembly (the province's first minority government in almost 130 years). The ADQ, a conservative populist party, will be the official opposition under Mario Dumont. The separatist PQ, which had promised a referendum on sovereignty if elected, ends up third.
It looked as if Charest was going to lose his Sherbrooke seat, but he has prevailed.
The Liberals may have benefitted from the recent federal budget, the ADQ from the general unpopularity of the heretofore two leading parties and their respective leaders, Charest and André Boisclair, as well as from its platform of fiscal conservatism and cultural nationalism (nationalism without sovereignty, for now).
The Liberals were behind in the polls just a week ago, although they had generally been ahead since January.
For more, see Wikipedia.
Here's the latest, as of 1:37 am, from the CBC:
-- Liberal Party (48 seats; 33.08% of the vote)
-- Action Démocratique du Québec (41 seats; 30.80% of the vote)
-- Parti Québécois (36 seats; 28.32% of the vote)
Premier Jean Charest's centrist and federalist Liberals thus win a second mandate, although they will govern in the minority in a closely divided National Assembly (the province's first minority government in almost 130 years). The ADQ, a conservative populist party, will be the official opposition under Mario Dumont. The separatist PQ, which had promised a referendum on sovereignty if elected, ends up third.
It looked as if Charest was going to lose his Sherbrooke seat, but he has prevailed.
The Liberals may have benefitted from the recent federal budget, the ADQ from the general unpopularity of the heretofore two leading parties and their respective leaders, Charest and André Boisclair, as well as from its platform of fiscal conservatism and cultural nationalism (nationalism without sovereignty, for now).
The Liberals were behind in the polls just a week ago, although they had generally been ahead since January.
For more, see Wikipedia.
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
1:37 AM
1 Comments:
Charest didn't get as big a boost as you may have thought - while the federal budget poured money into Quebec coffers, the incumbent premier used those dollars to promise tax cuts for the province. It almost looks like vote-buying, and judging from the ADQ's numbers, the voters weren't having any of that. Charest held on - but just barely.
It is also worth noting that the PQ and BQ, as a result of this, have lost a lot of ground. Historically speaking, this sort of dormant phase (yes, dormant. I don't believe it's gone for good) usually happens after a massive wave of separatist sentiment (remember Meech Lake and Charlottetown, which lead to the '95 referendum?). There was a major coup in Quebec being recognized as a "nation" in 2006, so I'm interested in what kind of impact this current trend will have on the sovereignty movement in the long run. But, I digress.
The outcome, however, is going to have a large federal impact. Many Canadian political analysts are saying that the results work in Stephen Harper's favour (he can say the money he put into Quebec helped squash sovereignist sentiment, etc, etc.) - and with the poll numbers floating upwards after the budget, there are whispers of a spring election.
With that said - and Canada as a whole has been watching - the money for Quebec comes as the expense of the Maritime provinces, B.C., even Conservative main base of Alberta (equalization formula). Just today, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador launched a set of attack ads in national newspapers against Stephen Harper for that reason.
Don't forget personal tax, either - all of Quebec, if Charest follows through with his promise, will get personal tax cuts because of federal money. No other Canadian province will see that kind of cut - the result of which may be resentment towards Quebec and towards Harper.
But now I'm all over the place, so I will leave my comments at that.
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