Legault made the announcement Tuesday in a 26-second video posted to social media. He said the campaign will officially start on August 28 and will continue until polling day on October 3. “I want, of course, to wish all the candidates a good campaign,” Legault said in the video, adding, “August 28th really begins!” Polls show Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec party with a commanding lead in the election campaign, and the party is widely expected to reach a second majority. A Léger poll released earlier this month found support for Legault’s party at 44 per cent, compared to 18 per cent for the second-place Quebec Liberals. Solidarity Quebec and the Conservative Party of Quebec polled 15 percent and 13 percent, respectively. While the official first day of campaigning has yet to begin, all major party leaders have already named candidates and made campaign promises in recent weeks. CAQ has pledged billions of dollars in new projects. In mid-August, Legault pledged $1.8 billion for thousands of new subsidized and affordable housing units. A week later, Families Minister Mathieu Lacombe pledged $1.4 billion over five years to convert more than 56,000 unsubsidized daycare spots into subsidized spaces. On Tuesday, Legault announced he would create a $650 million fund to ensure the health of the province’s lakes and rivers if the party is re-elected. Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade, meanwhile, has pledged to ensure every Quebecer has a family doctor under his leadership. The once-mighty Parti Québécois, which is running near the bottom of the polls, has promised affordable public transport, while the Conservatives under leader Éric Duhaime have already launched an official campaign. Quebec’s left-wing Solidarity, which made a breakthrough in the 2018 election by winning its first seats outside the island of Montreal, has promised new funding for parents who can’t find daycare spaces. Québec solidaire responded to Legault’s video on Tuesday with a message of its own on Twitter, promising to mount the “biggest campaign in its history.” Despite the early start of the parties, the official date of the campaign remains important, because from that moment the expenses are monitored and regulated according to the rules laid down in the electoral law. As the legislature adjourned for the summer, Legault’s party had 76 seats, while the Quebec Liberals had 27, Québec solidaire had 10 and the Parti Québécois had seven. The Conservative Party of Quebec held one seat and there were four Independents. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 23, 2022
