CAQ tidal wave and QS breakthrough in capital

Quebec City residents led the province in putting out the welcome mat for the Coalition Avenir Québec.

There were just three notable exceptions: Taschereau and Jean-Lesage, where Québec solidaire made a stunning breakthrough outside its home turf in Montreal, and Jean-Talon, where Education Minister Sébastien Proulx fended off a challenge by CAQ candidate Joëlle Boutin.

Former Liberal cabinet ministers fell like bowling pins as the CAQ rolled to victory in a region that had gone almost solidly Liberal in 2014. In the provincial capital, also known for its fickleness toward incumbents, Monday’s vote was all about change.

The surprise was that in addition to its victory in Taschereau, where actress and multimedia artist Catherine Dorion won with 41 per cent of the vote, Québec solidaire also won a second victory and placed ahead of the Parti Québécois in most of the region’s other races.

Taschereau, which includes Quebec City’s historic quarter and trendy Lower Town, was one of the most hotly contested races across Quebec. The former PQ bastion had been held since 1998 by PQ MNA and former cabinet minister Agnès Maltais, who retired this year after 20 years in politics. PQ candidate Diane Lavallée placed a distant third with 18 per cent.

In 2014, Maltais beat Liberal candidate Florent Tanlet by only 451 votes. This time around, Tanlet finished one point behind Lavallée.

In 2014, Dorion ran for the sovereignist Option nationale party, receiving just four per cent of the vote.

In Jean-Lesage, where star Liberal candidate Gertrude Bourdon, a hospital director, was running, Québec solidaire candidate Sol Zanetti, philosophy teacher and former leader of Option nationale, beat the CAQ’s Christiane Gamache with 35 per cent of votes cast, to 33 per cent for Gamache. ON merged with Québec solidaire at the start of the year. Bourdon finished in third place with just 18 per cent of the vote.

Elsewhere, the CAQ wave painted most of the capital region powder blue. Leader François Legault’s promise to eliminate 5,000 public service jobs by attrition didn’t seem to hurt the party even though government jobs are a mainstay of the local economy.

In Jean-Talon, which includes the central Sainte-Foy and Sillery districts, Proulx won with 33 per cent of the vote, to 29 per cent for the CAQ’s Boutin, 38, a digital entrepreneur. QS candidate Patrick Provost, a biochemistry professor at Université Laval, was in third place, followed by PQ candidate Sylvain Barrette, a music teacher.

Ali Dahan, an independent candidate in Jean-Talon, had 22 votes as of press time — less than one per cent of the total. Dahan said last week he had stopped campaigning after receiving a new threat.

In Charlesbourg, caquiste Jonatan Julien, a city councillor and former right-hand man of Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume, trounced Employment Minister François Blais, 48 per cent to 22 per cent.

In Chauveau, the CAQ’s Sylvain Lévesque, a former political commentator, steamrollered past Véronyque Tremblay, the junior transport minister, 47 per cent to 22 per cent.

It was the same story in Charlevoix-Côte-de-Beaupré. Émilie Foster of the CAQ, an aide to leader François Legault, defeated Liberal incumbent Caroline Simard, 45 per cent to 21 per cent. PQ hopeful Nathalie Leclerc was in third place with 18 per cent.