Former stronghold of the Parti Québécois, the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region was entirely painted pale blue on Monday evening. The riding of Jonquière, the last to resist the CAQ wave of 2018, finally fell into the hands of François Legault’s party.
The PQ hoped, as best they could, to keep the constituency represented over the past 15 years by Sylvain Gaudreault, and from 1996 to 2001 by former PQ Premier Lucien Bouchard.
In March, Sylvain Gaudreault – who won the 2018 election with 48% of the vote – announced that he would leave politics at the end of his term. PQ leader Paul St-Pierre-Plamondon traveled to Jonquière twice during the campaign to support his candidate Caroline Dubé.
But the CAQ tidal wave broke with force. Yannick Gagnon, who was general manager of the Patro de Jonquière, won the riding with 60% of the vote, while his PQ rival, Caroline Dubé, won a low 19% of the vote.
In the four other constituencies of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, the elected CAQists were forcefully reappointed to their positions. The outgoing Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Minister responsible for the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, Andrée Laforest, was re-elected in the riding of Chicoutimi with more than 14,600 votes ahead of her PQ rival. .
In the riding of Dubuc, François Tremblay sealed his victory with a lead of more than 10,300 votes over the PQ. Nancy Guillemette, in the riding of Roberval, lost the PQ candidate by more than 9,000 votes. And Eric Girard, in the riding of Lac-Saint-Jean, had the upper hand over his PQ counterpart by more than 7,000 votes.
This is the first time since 1963 — the year Marc-André Bédard was elected in Chicoutimi — that the Parti Québécois has not been represented in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region.