Coalition Avenier Québec (CAQ) leader François Legault made the announcement Sunday morning after asking Lt.-Gov. Michel Doyon to dissolve the legislature. “The real campaign begins,” Legault said as he walked to his campaign bus. Campaign signs have already gone up in towns across the province. The campaign will last about five weeks before Quebecers go to the polls on Oct. 3. Party leaders are out in force, making appearances in multiple ridings throughout the day. The Quebec Liberals and Legault’s CAQ were the first parties to hold press conferences, kicking off their campaigns Sunday morning. Then Parti Québécois (PQ) leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon spoke at Camille-Laurin’s reading in Montreal, followed by Quebec Conservative Party leader Éric Duhaime in Chauvreau, northeast of Quebec City. Québec Solidaire (QS) is launching its campaign in the riding of Saint-François in the eastern cities, where it hopes to win this election. All major party leaders have nominated candidates and made campaign promises in recent weeks. Polls show the CAQ holding a commanding lead as the campaign begins and are widely expected to reach a second majority. The economy was one of the main issues discussed by party leaders as they launched their campaigns. Liberal leader Dominique Anglade said the economy will be the issue at the ballot box and suggested the issue of Quebec’s economic development had been neglected by the CAQ. Quebec Liberal Party leader Dominique Anglade kicked off her party’s election campaign outside the provincial National Assembly in Quebec City on Sunday morning. (John Jamarillo/Radio-Canada) “Ask any Quebecker if they are better off today than they were four years ago and they will answer the question in the negative,” Anglade said. “The reality is that people don’t have that much money in their pockets. We need a long-term plan, and these are the proposals we have.”
Economy over mind
At a news conference in front of Montmorency Falls outside Quebec City soon after, Legault said he was proud of the state of Quebec’s economy, but acknowledged that inflation was the number one concern shared with him by constituents on his travels across the province recently. “Wages in Quebec have never risen faster, so can we agree that there is something good for our workers right now?” he said. “Who do you really trust to manage your wallet?” He also mentioned several times that during his time as premier, Quebec had narrowed the wealth gap with Ontario. He spoke of Anglade’s charge about the economy, saying in French: “How could this lady say that Quebec’s economy is not doing well? We have never seen Quebec’s economy outperform Ontario’s under the Liberals.” Legault went on to say that, “The labor shortage was not caused by the CAQ.” Anglade soon tweeted in response that, “My name is Dominic.” Legault said the CAQ will share its four measures to address the cost of living in the coming days and will include specific ways to green the province’s economy, including measures to combat climate change and reduce gas emissions of the greenhouse. Legault’s start in the capital suggests his party wants to shore up its base in the region, where the Conservatives under Duhaime appear to be gaining popularity. Quebec Conservative Party leader Éric Duhaime said his campaign began a week ago. (Radio-Canada) In response to whether Duhaime threatened CAQ strongholds in Quebec City and the Beauce region, Legault said the pandemic had taught him the importance of remaining humble and that he told his team every day: “Don’t take anything for granted.” He said he believed the Conservatives’ growing popularity could be partly attributed to the reaction to pandemic restrictions, but that he felt it was his duty to implement tough measures to protect vulnerable people from time to time. 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. Québec Solidaire and the Conservative Party of Quebec polled at 15 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
Growing popularity of the Conservatives
Duhaime held his news conference in front of a small crowd of supporters, saying his campaign started a week ago without waiting for Legault to give the go-ahead. Coalition Avenir Québec leader François Legault launched his campaign in front of the popular Chutes Montmorency. (Mathieu Potvin/Radio-Canada) He said the fact that his party had already fielded 125 candidates for the first time in a Quebec election was a victory. “I can feel a lot of excitement and a very strong mobilization on the part of our base and we have 36 days to convince hundreds of thousands of other Quebecers,” Duhaime said.
Health, housing and climate change
Québec Solidaire (QS) is positioning itself as the main opposition in the CAQ, trying to take advantage of the Liberals’ decline in the polls. Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co-spokesperson for QS, said the upcoming mandate is Quebec’s “last chance” to fight climate change. “We have a responsibility to act now,” he said. “The first priority must be the health of people and the health of the environment.” Québec Solidaire co-representatives Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, center, and Manon Massé, left, kicked off their party’s campaign in Sherbrooke Sunday. (Matt D’Amours/CBC) He said his party would present an ambitious platform that would solve the housing crisis, “revolutionize” transportation and make Quebec “one of the greenest countries in the world,” citing QS’s support for sovereignty. “We will put an end to the biggest polluters getting a free pass.” In Montreal, Plamondon said his party could be the Cinderella story of the election – “The group that will have gone much further than everyone predicted.” Despite the PQ’s dismal poll results, Plamondon said the party will build on a platform based on the authenticity of its beliefs. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said he hopes the Parti Québécois will be a “Cinderella team” this election, performing better than predicted. (Radio-Canada) “In the face of the decline that Canada has chosen for us, we do not accept the CAQ’s invitation to resign. We choose hope and rigor,” Plamondon said, referring to the CAQ’s position that Quebec does not need to secede from the rest of Canada . assert his sovereignty. “Simply put, being dominant means being realistic,” Plamondon said. “We want to make sure that everyone understands that this idea is also primarily about our future as a nation and the future of the French language.” As the legislature broke up over 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.
