Liberals suffer defeat, but mostly maintain their stronghold
Results signal a repeat of decades-old voting pattern but with lower margins
It was a sweep for the Quebec Liberals in the four West Island ridings and Vaudreuil. In Soulanges, however, Coalition Avenir Québec candidate Marilyne Picard won with 39.65 per cent of the vote, defeating Liberal candidate Lucie Charlebois, who had 33.29 per cent at deadline time.
The West Island results were an anticipated repeat of decades of voting tradition in the region. As the evening went on, it appeared that Coalition Avenir Québec’s call for change had fallen on deaf ears in the ridings of Marquette, Jacques-Cartier, Nelligan and Robert-Baldwin and the off-island’s Vaudreuil.
Leads were respectable, but the margins were narrower than those of the Liberal sweep in 2014.
Greg Kelley, the Liberal candidate for Jacques-Cartier, was declared the winner with 71.8 per cent of the vote. Coalition Avenir Québec candidate Karen Hilchey remained a distant second with 9.32 per cent.
Kelley’s father, Geoffrey, who served as Jacques-Cartier’s MNA for 24 years before announcing his retirement this summer, received 85.42 per cent of the vote in the 2014 election.
Jacques-Cartier’s Green Party of Quebec candidate Catherine Polson was in third place with 6.73 per cent.
In Robert-Baldwin, it was a clear win for Liberal candidate Carlos Leitão, with 73.85 per cent of the vote. CAQ candidate Laura Azéroual placed a distant second with 11.32 per cent of the vote and Québec solidaire candidate Zachary Williams sat in third place with 4.34 per cent.
In 2014, Leitão was elected with 87.27 per cent of the vote.
In Nelligan, with 158 of 181 polling stations reporting, Liberal candidate Monsef Derraji held a significant lead, with 64.86 per cent of the vote, over CAQ candidate Angela Rapoport’s 17.42 per cent. Derraji stepped in to run for the Liberals after Martin Coiteux announced he would not seek a second mandate.
Québec solidaire candidate Simon Tremblay-Pepin ran a distant third place in Nelligan, with 5.52 per cent of the vote.
In Marquette, with 144 of 147 polling stations reporting, Liberal candidate Enrico Ciccone was heading for a certain win with 43.69 per cent of the vote. CAQ candidate Marc Hétu was in second with 27.84 per cent and Québec solidaire candidate Anick Perreault had 11.34 per cent.
In Vaudreuil, with 186 of 188 polling stations reporting, Liberal candidate Marie-Claude Nichols had 40.01 per cent of the vote. CAQ candidate Claude Bourbonnais was in second with 32.721 per cent. Parti Québécois candidate Philip Lapalme sat in third with 10.07 per cent.
Even with the results still trickling in, the Liberal trend appeared to be holding steady.
West and Off Islanders voiced similar concerns during the campaign.
The priority for citizens living in the Vaudreuil and Soulanges ridings remains the construction of the long-promised hospital. The Liberal government said the hospital would break ground in 2022.
The number of super clinics increased throughout the province, but the Lakeshore General Hospital in Pointe-Claire is the only hospital between the West Island and the Ontario border.
Efficient public transportation has long been a priority throughout the region. The guarantee that the REM — a $6.3-billion light-rail network — would service the West Island was good news.
Other talking points for West and Off Islanders during the campaign were education funding and the survival of school boards.