(Quebec) Almost wiped off the map a year ago, the Parti Québécois (PQ) surprises and snatches the seat of Jean-Talon from the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ). Pascal Paradis becomes the fourth member of the sovereignist party after a by-election which was not even close.
“The Parti Québécois is back! » launched PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon in front of euphoric activists crowded into the bar of the Normandin restaurant on Place de la cite, in Sainte-Foy.
François Legault’s party loses a seat for a very rare time since its founding. If this defeat does not call into question his super majority in the National Assembly, it reveals a crack in his armor. And she spoils the first anniversary of his re-election to power this Tuesday. The sanction of Jean-Talon’s voters will change the dynamics of the political contest.
As soon as Pascal Paradis’ victory was announced at 8:48 p.m., PQ activists were jubilant. Cries of joy erupted, the applause was loud, and the atmosphere was excited. “We want a country! » spontaneously chanted the PQ activists, gathered in the heart of a constituency which had never been PQ until now. Then the PQ started to sing People of the country. Standing on his chair, PQ MP Pascal Bérubé shouted, with tears in his eyes: “Thank you everyone! “.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRECHETTE, LA PRESS
MP Pascal Bérubé
The announcement of the PQ victory was received like a cold shower by the few dozen CAQ members – including a handful of deputies and ministers – gathered at the Intact Assurance ice center. The atmosphere was, so to speak, frosty. “We are surprised,” said the minister responsible for the National Capital, Jonatan Julien, visibly stunned by the electoral verdict.
“I thought it would be tighter than that,” admitted his colleague Éric Caire, MP for the Quebec region since 2007. But “there is no need to panic,” he insisted. “There are three years of mandate left” before the next general elections.
At the time of publishing this text, Pascal Paradis, co-founder and former general director of Lawyers Without Borders Canada, received 44% of the votes, which represents a very decisive victory.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESS
Festive atmosphere at the Parti Québécois rally
Caquist Marie-Anik Shoiry followed, at 23%. This is 10 points less than the score obtained by the CAQ a year ago in this riding.
This is the very first time that Jean-Talon’s voters, in Sillery and Sainte-Foy, have sent a PQ member to the National Assembly. And it is a return of the PQ to the Quebec region, where it had disappeared since 2018.
After finishing in second place during the general elections, Olivier Bolduc, of Québec solidaire, slipped to third position with 17% of the votes. He failed in his third attempt to win this constituency; the party’s board of directors instead supported a female candidate during the early nomination, which was held at the beginning of August.
The riding of Jean-Talon was a liberal stronghold since its creation in the 1960s, before the CAQ seized it thanks to a by-election in 2019. However, the Liberal Party of Quebec obtains a score again lower than that obtained a year ago; his candidate Élise Avard Bernier was on track to obtain barely 9% of the votes.
Color bearer of the Conservative Party, Jesse Robitaille must be content with fifth place, with less than 6%.
The participation rate far exceeded the average of 41.3% recorded in by-elections over the past 25 years. More than one in two voters (56%) went to the polls in Jean-Talon, according to preliminary data. This is a higher result than that observed during the by-election in Jean-Talon in 2019, when the CAQ dethroned the Liberal Party (49%).
This by-election follows the departure of CAQ leader Joëlle Boutin in July, less than a year after the last election. By revealing this resignation, The Press noted that the CAQ were worried about its political repercussions when the PQ took the lead in voting intentions in the Quebec region.
The fall of the CAQ in this historically fertile ground occurred following the abandonment of the third highway link between Quebec and Lévis.
The project itself was not fundamentally a priority in Jean-Talon, but the CAQ’s retreat from a key promise has percolated. The Prime Minister’s word has been doubted.
The PQ managed to unite a large part of the discontent with this argument, thanks to the turn of events.
The Press revealed that Pascal Paradis had flirted with the CAQ last year and was interested in obtaining a ministerial position. CAQ sources had sent emails demonstrating this.
Pascal Paradis responded by saying that, as part of his discussions with the CAQ at the time, he was told that the third link would be abandoned after the general election. The PQ revealed exchanges of messages which suggest this and which also confirm the interest of Mr. Paradis at the time for a ministerial post under the CAQ banner.
The CAQ and the PQ accused each other of lying. This affair monopolized a good part of the campaign, bringing shade to the other candidates. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon made the “integrity” of the CAQ his question at the ballot box. And during the campaign, he decided to postpone the presentation of the year 1 budget for a sovereign Quebec until after the election, to avoid spending his “time talking about a subject other than what people of the riding of Jean-Talon have concerns.
The CAQ, however, did not skimp on the means to try to maintain its stronghold. Two weekly caucus meetings had been canceled in order to send deputies to the field. François Legault even went door to door to lend a hand to his candidate.
There are few precedents for a defeat of the CAQ in a riding that it had won over.
Last year, outgoing CAQ MP Richard Campeau lost Camille-Laurin to PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon. The latter had taken advantage of the withdrawal of the Quebec Solidaire candidate, caught in the act of stealing a PQ leaflet from a voter’s mailbox.
During a by-election in 2015, caused by the departure of Gérard Deltell to Ottawa, the CAQ was unable to retain Chauveau – it regained this riding in the Quebec region three years later.