It cannot be invented: the René-Lévesque riding is no longer held by the Parti Québécois. The overwhelming majority obtained by the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) has shaken many PQ and Liberal strongholds where voters have been voting in some cases for decades for the same party. State of play.
Rene-Levesque
This electoral division, thus baptized in 2001 after having first been named Saguenay, is located in the southwest of the administrative region of Côte-Nord and notably includes the city of Baie-Comeau. However, this PQ fortress has weakened during the last two general elections, during which the voting intentions in favor of the formation – precisely – of René Lévesque have experienced a constant decrease in favor of the CAQ. The latter finally took possession of this riding on Monday by having its candidate Yves Montigny elected there, with an overwhelming majority of 7,290 votes, ahead of the PQ candidate Jeff Dufour Tremblay.
Duplessis
The vast riding, which includes a large part of the North Shore, has always elected a PQ member since the government of René Lévesque came to power in 1976. For the first time in its history, the shade of blue of this riding has faded in favor of the CAQ and its candidate Kateri Champagne Jourdain. Originally from the Innu community of Uashat Mak Mani-utenam on the North Shore, the candidate obtained 45.1% of the vote Monday evening, far ahead of her PQ opponent, Marilou Vanier, who won 24.8%.
Joliette
With the exception of a brief stint in the hands of the defunct Action Démocratique du Québec in 2007, this riding has essentially been swept by the dark blue PQ since 1981. The departure of well-known MP Véronique Hivon, however, has shook this fortified castle, which fell into the hands of caquist François St-Louis on Monday. He won 45.6% of the vote, against 31.2% for his main opponent, the PQ Véronique Venne.
Jonquiere
In addition to its brief passage to the red of the Liberal Party at the turn of the 2000s, this riding, which was once occupied by former Prime Minister Lucien Bouchard, has long been associated with the Parti Québécois and the independence movement. The place left vacant by outgoing MP Sylvain Gaudreault was however filled Monday evening by CAQ candidate Yannick Gagnon, who won the election hands down with an overwhelming majority of 12,284 votes.
Rimouski
A PQ stronghold since 1994, this constituency of Bas-Saint-Laurent, where the lack of rental housing and daycare spaces is felt, set its sights Monday on the CAQ candidate Maïté Blanchette Vézina. The latter received 41.8% of the vote, far ahead of the PQ candidate Samuel Ouellet, who obtained 28.6% of the vote.
Verdun
General elections have rarely been exciting in Verdun, this riding having been won by the Liberals since 1939, when it was still called “Montreal-Verdun”. At the end of a three-way race marked by an increase in visibility and door-to-door operations by the parties in the running, it was finally the candidate of Québec solidaire Alejandra Zaga Mendez who won this riding with a lead of 461 votes. The Liberal Party of Quebec confirmed Tuesday that it would not request a judicial recount of the votes in this riding.
Anjou–Louis-Riel
Former municipal councilor Karine Boivin Roy made a successful leap into provincial politics by becoming the first Coalition avenir Québec member on Monday evening to lead the riding of Anjou–Louis-Riel, who had been a Liberal for 24 years, after having first alternated between the Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois. Mme Boivin Roy thus won this riding with a majority of 1331 votes, late in the night from Monday to Tuesday, in front of the Liberal candidate Chantal Gagnon.
The door
For the first time since 1981, voters in the riding of Laporte, which includes Saint-Lambert, have placed their trust in a candidate other than that of the Quebec Liberal Party. In this wealthy suburb of Montreal, the CAQ candidate Isabelle Poulet colored the riding pale blue, after a tight race with her Liberal opponent, Mathieu Gratton, an artist in his mid-forties. Mme Chicken won 30.8% of the vote, against 28.8% for Mr. Gratton.
Hull
Voters in Hull, a riding in the Outaouais region that includes part of the city of Gatineau, have been voting red since 1981. But this year, their vote took on a powder blue hue after a close contest. The candidate of the formation of François Legault, Suzanne Tremblay, thus collected a majority of 2784 votes in front of her main opponent, the liberal Maryse Gaudreault.
In addition, some ridings that have long alternated between the Parti Québécois and the Liberal Party fell into the hands of the CAQ on Monday evening. This is the case of Fabre, in Laval, who had been a Liberal since 2003. The candidate of Quebec solidaire Haroun Bouazzi, for his part, won his bet in the strong liberal castle of Maurice-Richard, which took on an orange hue on Monday.