Quebec party leaders travel province on final campaign day

MONTREAL — Quebec’s political party leaders made last-minute pitches to voters ahead of Monday’s provincial election.

Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault was in the Montérégie region southeast of Montreal, where he toured several ridings he hopes to win over from the Parti Québécois.

Local PQ candidate Alain Therrien even showed up to Legault’s first event, accusing the CAQ leader of being unrealistic in his plan to simultaneously cut taxes and raise services.

Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard was farther east in the region for a blitz of at least six towns.

Couillard continued to attack Legault, accusing him of having forgotten the province’s senior population during the 39-day campaign.

Parti Québécois Leader Jean-François Lisée, meanwhile, went to his hometown of Thetford Mines, where he introduced reporters to his mother.

Legault, whose formerly front-running party is now neck-and-neck with the Liberals in the polls, still expressed hope for a majority government.

“We will have a (Coalition) majority if people vote massively,” he said Saturday during a visit to an apple orchard in Compton, in Quebec’s Eastern Townships.

A Coalition government would force newcomers to pass a French-language and Quebec values test within three years of their arrival.

The latest polls from Ipsos, Leger and Le Journal de Montréal put the CAQ and the Liberals within one or two points of each other ahead of Monday’s vote.

However, the Leger poll contained good news for Legault when it comes to support among French-speakers.

His party was the favourite for 37 per cent of francophones, compared to 24 per cent for the Parti Québécois, 20 per cent for Quebec solidaire and 17 per cent for the Liberals.