Suffering the worst defeat in their history in terms of popular vote, the Liberals of Dominique Anglade managed to save the furniture in terms of number of seats. The party keeps the official opposition with the election of 23 deputies more than ever concentrated in Montreal.
Updated at 12:27 a.m.
Threatened in her riding throughout the campaign, the Liberal leader was finally re-elected in Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne with 36.4%. The Liberals unsurprisingly retained the fortresses on the west of the island of Montreal, but escaped Maurice-Richard.
The damage was caused more in the “450”, and only the bastion of Pontiac, in Outaouais, resisted the CAQ tidal wave.
“Quebecers are asking the Liberal Party of Quebec to be the official opposition in Quebec,” said Dominique Anglade when he arrived on the stage of the Corona theater, around 10:30 p.m., on the song Unstoppable de Sia, which had become his campaign anthem.
She gave a short speech of less than five minutes, surrounded by members of her family, to thunderous applause from activists packed into the room which could accommodate 200 people.
The Liberal leader once again hammered home the importance of rallying behind the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ). “I want to speak to all Quebecers. Whether you voted for us or for another political formation, my door, our door will always be open,” she said.
If it manages to limit the damage, the fact remains that the PLQ recorded a historic low on Monday with 14.4% of the popular vote. In 2018, Philippe Couillard’s Liberals were ousted from power with a historically low result of 24.8% of the vote and 31 seats.
“I hear it,” admitted M.me Anglade in scrum. “The reality is that we want to attract more people […], we want to expand the tent as much as possible,” she added. No question for her to leave her position as leader of the PLQ. She reiterated her wish to stay on Monday.
“I’m not giving up,” she told reporters.
Towards reconstruction
Dominique Anglade is now tackling the issue of rebuilding his political formation, which has been weakened since 2018. “There is work to be done with the organization. We will have to continue this work in a very determined, very strong way, ”she said.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Dominique Anglade, Leader of the Quebec Liberal Party
In his speech, Mr.me Anglade also said that she wanted to take advantage of the “momentum” of the electoral campaign to continue the work for “the next few years”.
Fortresses crumble, others resist
The fate of a few liberal strongholds was still uncertain. The ridings of Verdun, where incumbent Isabelle Melançon was seeking re-election, and Anjou–Louis-Riel were hotly contested.
A CAQ tidal wave was also narrowly avoided in “le 450” while the Liberals retained the ridings of Chomedey and Mille-Îles, in Laval. Vimont, Laval-des-Rapides and Fabre were about to move to the CAQ.
The fortresses of Vaudreuil and La Pinière remained in the liberal camp, but that of Laporte swung to the CAQ.
In Outaouais, the outgoing MP for Pontiac, André Fortin, resisted the caquist wave that carried away his colleague from Hull, Maryse Gaudreault, first elected in 2008.
new faces
Outgoing MPs Monsef Derraji (Nelligan), Marwah Rizqy (Saint-Laurent), Marc Tanguay (La Fontaine), Enrico Ciccone (Marquette), Filomena Rotiroti (Jeanne-Mance–Viger) and Jennifer Maccarone (Westmount–Saint-Louis) in particular retained their seat.
Among the new faces, former mayoral candidate and former Town Councilor for Mount Royal, Michelle Setlakwe, was elected in Mount Royal–Outremont, as were lawyers Brigitte Garceau (Robert-Baldwin) and Madwa-Nika Cadet. (Bourassa-Sauve).
This is also the case of the former managing director and head of capital markets at Scotiabank, Fred Beauchemin, who won Marguerite-Bourgeoys. With his economic profile, he was identified during the campaign as the heir apparent to ex-finance minister Carlos Leitão.
Dominique Anglade had a difficult start to the campaign marked by several pitfalls linked to the liberal organization. When the elections were called, he lacked a good dozen candidates. Three candidates and a prospective candidate also withdrew at the start of the race.
At the end of the nomination period, the candidacy in Matane-Matapédia was first rejected, then accepted after legal challenge. The first half of his campaign was also plagued by a $16 billion error in his financial framework.
The Liberal leader managed to raise the bar after the second leaders’ debate by playing the female leadership card and adopting a more relaxed style. The controversial remarks of François Legault and Jean Boulet on immigration have given new oxygen to his message.