The rise of Éric Duhaime’s conservatives is based on a temporary health protest movement, believe the other opposition parties, a trend on which QS and the PQ could not surf since they were “responsible” in their criticisms.
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A Léger poll published on Wednesday now places the right-wing political party at 14% of voting intentions, ahead of Québec solidaire (12%) and the Parti Québécois (11%), and a few points behind the Liberals (20%). The CAQ remains in the lead at 41%, but its support continues its downward trend after an all-time high in recent months.
But for his opponents, the popularity of Éric Duhaime is a temporary phenomenon, which will run out of steam once the sanitary measures are relaxed.
“The attraction of the new can be interesting, but it will have to present a team and a plan, analyzed the Liberal MP Lise Thériault. The world does not vote for the present, but for the future and it is the people who will judge.
The parliamentary leader of Quebec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, also sees it as the result “of a protest movement” of the pandemic management of the Legault government.
A trend on which his political training could not benefit since it “did not seek to be the most popular, but the most responsible”. “I think the real debate will be more about rebuilding the health network than about health measures,” he added.
Same story at the Parti Québécois, where the leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, believes that his conservative opponents are taking advantage of the current context of polarization, “which will not remain all the time”, to build up support.
As the by-election in Marie-Victorin approaches, he says he prefers to rely on the ballot box, the only real test of popularity for political parties, according to him.