‘Today, we marked history,’ Legault says
In victory speech, premier-designate promises to lead ‘positive government’
QUEBEC CITY The look on François Legault’s face lasted only a moment.
Standing in the hallway awaiting his introduction, he took a deep breath, sipped from a water bottle, and adjusted his tie. His wife, Isabelle Brais, rested her head on his shoulder. When she then put her hand on his chest, a slight smile inched across his face. A raucous crowd awaited through the door.
Legault, 61, had won the majority government he had focused on during the election campaign. Now it was time to address his base.
“Today, we marked history,” Legault said in his first remarks after being elected premier.
“Today, there are many Quebecers who put aside a debate that divided us for 50 years,” he said. “Many Quebecers who demonstrated it’s possible to get yesterday’s opponents to work together for the Quebec of tomorrow.”
Legault promised to lead a “positive government” with its heart in the right place and its two feet on the ground.
“We are able to!” he shouted. Thirty-nine days earlier, Legault had chosen to launch his Coalition Avenir Québec campaign in Quebec City’s Louis-Hébert riding.
For the party, the choice was symbolic. CAQ candidate Geneviève Guilbault had taken the riding from the Liberals in an upset landslide byelection win last October. Legault believed it signalled a wave of change he felt was ready to sweep the province.
By the time Guilbault was reelected Monday — one of the first announced wins of the night — Legault’s early campaign hunch seemed all but confirmed.
“Mr. Legault called for a vote of confidence from all Quebecers,” Guilbault said moments before the CAQ majority was projected on screens behind her in a Quebec City conference room, “and I think we’re seeing that tonight.”
For Legault, election night came after an up-and-down campaign that saw him narrow his message in its last days and return to his initial pitch to voters.
From Day 1 of the campaign, he insisted the CAQ was the only viable option for Quebecers looking to move on from “15 years of Liberal government.”
And that was the message Legault found himself returning to as he closed out the 39-day stretch. Obvious to all was his party’s concerted effort to distance itself from the subject that once looked like it could derail the campaign altogether: immigration and Legault’s admitted struggle to explain his stance on it.
After starting the campaign ahead in the polls, the CAQ fell behind the Quebec Liberal Party during a crucial mid- September week.
The dip came after Legault revealed a lack of knowledge about the roles provincial and federal governments share in immigration, giving confounding answer after answer when pressed about it by reporters.
His repeated stumbles over basic questions on the issue became easy targets for opponents and clearly shook Legault’s confidence. It appeared the controversy could be enough to drag the campaign down.
But a well-placed mea culpa delivered in the middle of the last leaders’ debate seemed to help Legault steady the ship. As his campaign reached its end, admitting his mistakes instead of doubling down on past statements was Legault’s way of distancing himself from the topic.
It appeared to work. By the end of the campaign, after a strategic trip to Quebec’s regions and a refocus
Mr. Legault called for a vote of confidence from all Quebecers and I think we’re seeing that tonight.
on his priorities — putting money “back in Quebecers’ pockets” and improving education — the CAQ was back ahead in the polls.
“What’s important in politics is persevering,” Legault said this weekend while looking back on the campaign.
Still, in the last hours of his campaign, Legault had admitted to having mixed feelings. He was a bit anxious, he told reporters. He repeated calls to CAQ supporters to make it to the polls in “massive” numbers, reiterating that every vote counts and is needed.
While stopping short of saying it, his concern seemed clear — without an impressive turnout for a party not known for large rallies and supporter showings, the majority government he aspired to lead could be out of reach.