The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) won the two Gaspésie ridings at the expense of the Parti Québécois (PQ) on Monday evening, but the outgoing PQ MP for the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Joël Arseneau, resisted the CAQ wind which blown in eastern Quebec.
Caquiste candidate Catherine Blouin made star candidate Alexis Deschênes, of the Parti Québécois, bite the dust in Bonaventure. Caquiste Stéphane Sainte-Croix also won the neighboring riding, Percé, against outgoing PQ MP Méganne Perry Mélançon.
The Parti Québécois fought hard to keep the riding of Îles-de-la-Madeleine. At the time these lines were written, the incumbent, Joël Arseneau, was ahead by 6 percentage points (500 votes) of the CAQ’s star candidate, Jonathan Lapierre, with 51 of the 53 polling stations counted.
the hurricane Fiona, which swept through the Magdalen Islands just over a week before the election, appears to have been a turning point in the campaign. Deputy Arseneau insisted on the fight against climate change, the storm having caused significant damage in the archipelago.
Prime Minister Legault’s visit to the archipelago after the storm passed was probably not enough to wrest this riding from the Parti Québécois. The head of the CAQ had promised 100 million dollars to fight against the erosion of the banks.
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